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Translated Texts for Byzantinists
Volume 7

The Chronicle
of the Logothete

Translated with introduction, commentary
and indices by STAFFAN WAHLGREN

Liverpool

University

Press

First published 2019
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool, L69 7ZU

The right of Staffan Wahlgren to be identified as the author of this book
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A British Library CIP Record is available.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Select Bibliography

The Chronicle of the Logothete

Index of Names

Index of Terms and Concepts

ISBN 978-1-78694-207-4 cased

Typeset by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster
Printed and bound in Poland by BooksFactory.co.uk

I s -

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

I would like to thank the General Editors of Translated Texts for
Byzantinists, Judith Ryder, Judith Herrin and Elizabeth M. Jeffreys, for
allowing me to publish my translation in their series, for untiring encour¬
agement and for countless suggestions and corrections. In addition, my
sincere thanks are due to the anonymous readers provided by the Press
for their various suggestions; to Sebastian Ernesto Salvado, who corrected
my English and made many suggestions for improvements; and to Claudia
Sode, who read parts of my translation and let me profit from her critical
sense and knowledge. Last but not least, I acknowledge my undiminished
debt to all those who made it possible for me to carry through the project
of editing the Greek text of the Chronicle of the Logothete—friends,
colleagues, family.

Staffan Wahlgren, June 2018

World Chronicles

The world chronicle is a literary genre in which the recent history of a
people of (Late) Antiquity or medieval times is connected to the beginnings
of mankind as told in the Old Testament. It is an essentially Christian genre,
ideologically underpinned by passages in the Bible (especially the Book of
Daniel), and it shows history as an instrument to reveal God’s plan for this
world.

Thus, in its fully developed Byzantine form, the patriarchs of old (from
Adam onwards) are seen as the direct predecessors of their Byzantine
counterparts, the emperors, and the Byzantines stand forth as God’s
Chosen People. The history of other peoples is primarily included in the
narrative in order to cover the gaps between these beginnings and the
Christian Roman empire of the Byzantines themselves. In the Chronicle of
the Logothete, the text translated in this volume, this is illustrated by the
attention paid to the Assyrian-Median-Persian kings, the Ptolemaic rulers
of Egypt, and the emperors of pagan Rome: they are all links in a chain.

Notwithstanding the main perspective, even the most focused of
chronicles gives occasional titbits of information not belonging to the
main thread of the narrative. Homer, the epic poet, may be mentioned,
i or Romulus, the founder of Rome: according to our text, Homer lived

in the time of King Solomon, and Romulus was a contemporary of the
prophet Isaiah. However, because of its lack of function in the overall
scheme, information about these pagans is endangered—-as, indeed, is
most knowledge about pagan antiquity. The loss of this is indicative of an
age in which the collective memory of the Greeks is being transformed in
its foundations.

In sum, two principles are at work: synchronisation and unification.
That Homer is mentioned together with King Solomon, or Romulus with

2 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Isaiah, is an example of how pagan history has been synchronised with
that of the Jews and Christians. To avoid such reference is typical of the
unifying principle: world history is conceived as one narrative only.

(Sextus) Iulius Africanus (ca. AD 160-240), a native of Jerusalem, is
considered the inventor of a world chronicle of this kind, and may be styled
the ‘Father of Christian Chronography.’ His work, the Chronographiae,
has been lost, but, since it was often cited by various later writers, it can
be reconstructed in its general design. 1 Accordingly, we know that it
was divided into five books, starting with the Creation of the World and
reaching until ca. AD 221.

The second name of importance is that of Eusebius of Caesarea
(ca. AD 260-340). Apart from theological works, and a Church History, he
is the author of the so-called Pantodape Historia ( Miscellaneous/Universal
History), which consisted of two parts, the Chronographia and a set of
Canones {Tables). Although most of this has been lost in Greek, and has to
be studied in the existing Latin and Armenian versions, there is no doubt
that it exerted a tremendous influence on later Byzantine chronography.

From these beginnings we come to texts that have been preserved to
us. We will mention the main ones (written in Greek) of the following
centuries. 2 The first of these is the Chronographia of John Malalas (ca. AD
490-570 or later). 3 In eighteen books (some text has been lost), the work
begins with Adam and biblical history, but also incorporates a fair share of
the history of the Egyptians, the pagan Greeks, and so on. Special attention
is paid to Antioch, John’s home town. The text ends in AD 563.

The anonymous Chronicon Paschale (so-called because of its system
of chronology, based on the Paschal cycle) was probably written shortly
after the last events recorded. 4 It treats the history of the world from Adam
until AD 628.

1 The fragments are edited and translated in Wallraff 2007.

2 There is no satisfactory history of Byzantine literature. For an overview—of the history
of literature as well as the general history of Byzantium—the reader may turn to L. James,
A Companion to Byzantium, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, and E. Jeffreys/J. Haldon/R. Cormack, The Oxford Handbook of
Byzantine Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Valuable but idiosyncratic are
W. Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, and
W. Treadgold, The Middle Byzantine Historians, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. A
recent addition is Neville 2018.

3 Translated by Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott et al. 1986.

4 An annotated partial translation is available in Whitby/Whitby 1989.

j INTRODUCTION 3

The Constantinopolitan patriarch Nikephoros (ca. AD 758-828) wrote
a very incomplete account of the period 602-769 (the Historia syntomos,
or Short History), but also a (very short) world chronicle from Adam, called
Chronographikon syntomon {Short Chronography). 5

From the same time as Patriarch Nikephoros there is the combined
world chronicle of George Synkellos 6 (reaching from the Creation of the
j World until AD 285) and Theophanes the Confessor 7 (continuing George’s

narrative into the early ninth century). George contains a lot of material
pertaining to various ancient civilisations, and he takes great interest
in chronology, including the calculation of years from the Creation.
Theophanes is concerned with Late Antiquity and Byzantine times but,
since his work is conceived as a continuation of George, it deserves a place
in an overview of world chronicles. Theophanes is extremely influential
in Byzantium, as seen by reflections of his work in the Chronicle of the
Logothete and others. In addition, he is somewhat of a favourite among
modern historians: in part, modern histories of Byzantium read like a
running commentary to Theophanes. A characteristic feature of this text is
the annalistic arrangement, in which the material is arranged as per year, a
concept anticipated in George Synkellos.

The Chronicle of George the Monk covers the time from the Creation
of the World until the re-establishment of orthodoxy after the iconoclast
controversy (this was in AD 843; the work was probably finished around
870).® The text is remarkable for the number of manuscripts preserved (more
i than a hundred). Itjs structurally similar to many later texts, including the

t Chronicle of the Logothete, and there is reason to believe that it was very

influential.

Finally, in the tenth century, there is a whole complex of texts
associated with the name of Symeon the Logothete. The most widely
transmitted form of this is the object of this translation. I will refer to it as
the Chronicle of the Logothete (or, sometimes, as ‘Symeon’s Chronicle’),
i. In the following section, it is discussed in greater detail. First, however,

5 For a translation with commentary of the Short History see Mango 1990, who also
gives an overview of the contents of the Short Chronography (pp. 3-4), although, as pointed
out by Mango (who calls the text an ‘almanac’), it hardly makes sense to call this short,
impersonal piece a chronicle at all.

6 Translated with commentary by Adler/Tuffin 2002.

7 Translated with commentary by Mango/Scott 1997.

8 There is no translation of George the Monk’s chronicle into English, and a satisfactory
critical edition is sorely needed.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INTRODUCTION

we will take a look at some other texts within the wider family of Symeon
the Logothete. 9

The so-called Chronicle of Pseudo-Julius Pollux is a text covering the
period from the Creation of the World until the emperor Valens, in the late
fourth century AD (the text ends abruptly, since the main manuscript has
been damaged). 10 The first part of it, until the time of Julius Caesar, is more
or less identical with the Chronicle of the Logothete. In my opinion, the two
texts reflect a common source lost to us.

Theophanes continuatus is the conventional name given to texts
collected in the MS Vaticanus gr. 167 (and also preserved in some
insignificant copies of this). The collection is divided into six books. Of
these, the first four constitute a work in their own right. 11 The fifth book, a
biography of emperor Basil I known as the Vita Basilii, is yet another, quite
independent work, with its own style and character. 12 The sixth book is a
version of the Chronicle of the Logothete.

Pseudo-Symeon is the name given to the text preserved in the MS
Parisinus gr. 1712 (and in one insignificant copy of this). The text is partly
a version of the Chronicle of the Logothete, partly dependent on other
sources. Unfortunately, it has never been edited in full, and there is no
translation into a modern language. 13

The Chronicle of the Logothete: The Text and Its Author

The Chronicle of the Logothete encompasses the period from the Creation
of the World to the burial of emperor Romanos I Lekapenos in the summer
of AD 948. If we deduce a medieval text’s importance and success from
the number of extant manuscripts, this work must score highly. While some
medieval chronicles have come down to us in only one manuscript, about
thirty manuscripts transmit the Chronicle of the Logothete in its main
form. If we include versions and texts dependent upon it in some way or

9 Unfortunately there is no good overview as yet of the tangled web of relevant texts
and versions. For the time being, the reader is referred to the Introduction (in German) to my
edition (Wahlgren 2006).

10 This text has not been published since the eighteenth century, and there is no
translation. A critical edition is in preparation by me.

11 Edited and translated by Featherstone/Signes-Codofier 2015.

12 Edited and translated by SevCenko 2011.

13 An edition by A. Markopoulos is expected.

other, we arrive at a much higher number of manuscripts. In addition, the
chronicle was translated into Old Slavonic at least twice. 14

In spite of the work’s popularity, the chronicler himself remains obscure.
Judging from the text itself, he should be styled Symeon magistros and
logothetes. It has been suggested that this could be Symeon Metaphrastes,
an illustrious Byzantine literate who collected and (re-)wrote saints’
Lives (and who later became a saint himself). 15 However, bearers of the
titles of magistros and logothetes abound in this period, and Symeon is a
common name. Perhaps also the work of the chronicler are some poems:
one written by a Symeon on the death of Stephanos Lekapenos (f 963),
once co-emperor, another written by a Symeon magistros and logothetes
of the stratiotikon on the occasion of the death of emperor Constantine VII
in AD 959. 16

In sum, little or nothing is known about the chronographer except for
what the text itself can tell. We can assume that he was active in the second
half of the tenth century, since, as mentioned above, the text runs until the
summer of948. In fact, it would seem that Symeon wrote after the death of
Constantine VII in 959: the emperor’s passing is mentioned in Chapter 135,
§ 1, and, if this is not an interpolation, it gives us a terminus post quern for
the chronicle, or at least for the placement of the finishing touches to it. In
any case, it is certain that the chronicle already existed in some form in the
year 1013, for in this year the earliest extant and securely dated manuscript
(the Parisinus gr. 1711) was written.

In addition Jo these observations, when attempting to establish a date of
composition it may be beneficial to look for ideological or political bias in
the chronicle. The work ends with a description of the death and burial of
emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. The prominent position thus given to him

14 For a fuller treatment of the issues discussed here, the reader is, once more, referred to
the Introduction to my edition of the Greek text (Wahlgren 2006).

15 The Metaphrast was active in the second half of the tenth century and died ca. AD
1000 .

16 The identity of the chronicler and the Metaphrast has been maintained by
A. Markopoulos (A. Markopoulos, H xpovoypacpia too 'Fev8oaone&v xat oi 7tr|y£i;
Ioannina 1978) in particular. I. SevCenko has collected the existing information about people
named Symeon engaged in letters in the tenth century (I. SevCenko, ‘Poems on the deaths
of Leo VI and Constantine VII in the Madrid Manuscript of Scylitzes,’ Dumbarton Oaks
Papers 23/24 (1969/1970), pp. 187-228). It may perhaps be mentioned that a web search for
‘Symeon the Logothete’ is likely to lead to the Metaphrast: there is an article in (English)
Wikipedia named ‘Symeon the Metaphrast’ (or ‘Symeon the Logothete’) in which the
Chronicle is, although with doubt, attributed to the Metaphrast.

6 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

in the text might itself be significant. There are also many statements about
this emperor that seem intended to influence the reader favourably. An
example is Chapter 136, §§ 83-84, where the circumstances of Romanos’
dethronement are described, and he is the object of sympathy. Here, one
might almost feel as if we were reading a saint’s life. On the other hand,
the author has abstained from every opportunity to picture Romanos as the
fairly coarse and unsophisticated person that he probably was.

Conversely, we may also think that the opponents of the Lekapenoi,
the Macedonian emperors, are depicted in a negative or, at the very best,
indifferent way. This especially holds true with regard to their founding
father, Basil I. He is depicted as the coarse, brutal, and unsophisticated
person that he almost certainly was. To give some examples of how this
is achieved, he is directly and without excuses staged as the murderer of
a prominent member of the imperial family and member of government,
Caesar Bardas (see Chapter 131, § 33 and onwards), and of his predecessor
as emperor, Michael III (see Chapter 131, § 46 and onwards), and he is not,
as in other works, given an elevated ancestry. 17

Now, if we accept it as true that there is a pro-Lekapenian,
anti-Macedonian bias here, the question poses itself whether this can tell
us anything about the most likely date of the chronicle’s completion and
publication (supposing, first, that tenth-century Byzantium was a dangerous
place with censorship and repression, and, second, that the author did not
keep the text for himself but had it published). The reign of Nikephoros
II Phokas—that is, AD 963-969—has been suggested as the most likely
period of time meeting these conditions.

Beyond these issues, some words on the composition of the chronicle
and its structure are due. Below, a short overview of the chronicle’s
contents is provided. It is clear that Symeon, whoever he was, did not
write all this himself. This is proven by the existence of older texts that
contain identical passages, such as the chronicles of Theophanes and
George the Monk, and by the identical passages in Pseudo-Julius Pollux.
However, although the existence of borrowed material is uncontroversial,
it is neither certain in what form it reached Symeon’s desk, nor what his
own contribution was.

The question is whether Symeon was a compiler, putting several
larger pieces of text together, or a continuator who worked on the basis

17 This is in particularly stark contrast to the story told in the Vita Basilii (see Sevienko
2011 ).

j INTRODUCTION 7

of one, previously existing text (in both instances we may assume that he
. added a contribution of his own towards the end of the chronicle). As to

working methods, we may ask whether he read the texts of his predecessors
thoroughly and reflected on them, or not. As to the question of Symeon’s
i working methods, it is my opinion that these were, at the very least, careless,

and that he used the material of his predecessors without much reflection
or correction. As far as the first question is concerned (that of the size and
characteristics of the chunks of text taken over by Symeon), the following
is a summary of current opinion. It has been supposed that there existed
a chronicle from the Creation of the World until Justinian II (who reigned
around the year AD 700); that this chronicle was added upon, until AD 842,
, by an anonymous continuator; and that Symeon’s chronicle proper is the

( part covering the period from the year 842. This last part of the chronicle,

i covering the years 842-948, may in its turn be divided into segments.

According to the view advocated by A. Kazhdan, three such segments
J can be discerned: one covering the years 842-886 (emperors Michael III

and Basil I), a second covering the years 886-913 (emperors Leo VI and
• Alexander), and a third covering the years 913-948 (Constantine VII and

Romanos I). Of these, according to Kazhdan, the third and last probably
1 depended on the personal recollections of the author. 18

To prove all this, observations about the text’s homogeneity (or its
lack thereof) have been adduced, as well as parallels in other chronicles.
Personally, I feel that there is still a lot of this that we do not understand
| properly. It may ,be stressed that there are structuring devices in the text

that transcend the boundaries sketched above (that is, the boundaries at
ca. AD 700, 842 and so on). In these cases, we may think that Symeon has
\ either put his stamp on the whole of the text or that he shares structuring

| devices with predecessors—in other words, that the narrative devices

under consideration have been inherited from others.

The structuring of the text into chapters is one such cohesive feature.
I For the Byzantine part of the text, one chapter is devoted to each emperor’s

reign, and the parts dealing with periods earlier than Byzantium are
structured in a similar way: a leader of people is always present in the text
as the main agent, all the way back to Adam, who assumes a role similar to
that of a Byzantine emperor (cf. the beginning of this Introduction). That
this feature is not Symeon’s invention is clear, since it exists in earlier texts,

1 18 See Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (ed. A. Kazhdan, New York: Oxford University

! Press, 1991), s.v. Symeon the Logothete , or my edition (Wahlgren 2006), p. 5*.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

such as the Chronicle of George the Monk. However, the question remains
whether it existed in the sources that Symeon actually used (as I tend to
believe) or was a feature imposed by him on these sources.

There are also structuring devices within chapters. First of all, there
is a tendency to let the emperor stand in the centre of attention, and to
give priority to his story. Further, there is a tendency to provide a kind of
narrative arc: to let stories centre upon one crucial moment, and often, prior
to this, to tell the prehistory of the crucial event and then its aftermath.
Thus, centres of narrative gravity on a micro-level are provided. In my
opinion there is little doubt that very similar methods are present also in
other texts, and are not unique to Symeon. 19

Translation

Already in the Middle Ages, the Chronicle of the Logothete text was
translated into (Old) Slavonic at least twice, and some early prints are
accompanied by a Latin translation. A forthcoming English translation
of excerpts of the text is announced by P. Stephenson on his website,
and Walter K. Hanak (f) was preparing an English translation of one of
the Old Slavonic translations. 20 However, the only full-scale translation
into a modem language actually published is that into Russian by
A. Vinogradov. 21 This is an odd piece of work, in which the Greek text
(taken from my edition) has been used, with additions taken from one of
the Old Slavonic versions, in the belief that the Slavonic text is the more
authentic Symeon. It is extremely unfortunate that the translator does not
at all take into account the analysis of the manuscript tradition provided by
me (and others). His is an uncritical way of dealing with evidence, and it is
very difficult not to suspect that there is some wishful thinking with regard
to Old Slavonic as the key to understanding Byzantium.

About my own translation, the following can be said. The translation is
based on my edition of the Greek text, the only critical edition in existence.
As is usual in the chronographic genre, the text is transmitted in a fairly

19 For this aspect of Symeon’s literary technique there are the studies of Jenkins 1965 and
Treadgold 1979. A text that would deserve the attention of a similar study is the Chronicle of
George the Monk.

20 See <http://www.paulstephenson.info/trans/logothete.html>, accessed 14 November
2018.

21 A. Vinogradov, Hronika Simeona Magistra i Logofeta (Tom 1), Moscow 2014.

INTRODUCTION

open way. This means that scribes have felt much freer to introduce changes
than they would have if they were copying a more prestigious work, such
as that of an ancient author. Much has been added in the centuries after
Symeon, and later manuscripts often contain more than the earlier ones. In
other cases, scribes have left out a lot of text, or rewritten it using their own
words. My translation does not take this secondary variation into account,
and readers who want to get a picture of the form the text assumed in later
centuries I can only advise to go to my edition and study the Greek.

The translation aims at readability. This means that it favours a certain
redundancy wherever I consider this helpful. For instance, I often supply a
name where the text only gives a pronoun. Needless to say, such redundancy
often amounts to an interpretation on my part.

Readability sometimes stands in conflict with an ambition to preserve
the flavour of the original text. This ambition accounts for the use made
of such features as historical present and connectives; here I often deviate
from normal English usage. However, it should be stressed that, in these
cases, we are also often far away from normal Greek. For it is not the
flavour of normal Greek, but that of this particular Greek, that shall be
preserved, and it seems wrong to make the text look smoother and more
normal than it is.

As has been explained above, the chronicle is to a great extent a
compilation. Sentences or whole paragraphs and chapters can be found in a
more or less identical form in other existing texts, and later chroniclers have
used Symeon’^ text, too. Some such texts are already accessible in excellent
modern translations, e.g. the chronicles of Theophanes (a forerunner) and
Skylitzes (a follower). 22 My translation often differs from these, even when
the original wording is identical. This does not need to mean that anyone is
wrong, for the same text can be correctly translated in many ways. It only
means that, although I am aware of the work of others, I have chosen to do
my own translation independently, and to consult others only in special
cases.

Commentary

The main purpose of the commentary is to provide a basic framework for
the reader. The overall chronology is kept track of, and explicit dates are

22 See Mango/Scott 1997 (Theophanes) and Wortley 2010 (Skylitzes) respectively.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INTRODUCTION

translated into modern style and discussed when problematic. Persons
and places are identified, and important parallels to other texts, including [

explicit references, are commented upon. Apart from this, there are two
further features of my commentary worth mentioning in particular. I

The first is that I have tried to keep an eye on the text as a piece of j

literature and as testimony to Byzantine mentality, conceptions of history
and collective memory. Anachronisms provide a good example of this:
the behaviour and attitudes of a later age are often ascribed to people
of ancient times. This is, in my opinion, a phenomenon that deserves
attention. J

The second characteristic feature of my commentary derives from the
fact that I am also the editor of the text. I have therefore seen it as my
special duty not only to inform the reader about any passages that I have
difficulty in understanding (although they may be correctly transmitted)
but in particular to indicate any case where I see reason to doubt that the j

text has been correctly transmitted. \

Some translations of related texts, such as Theophanes (Mango/Scott I

1997) and Skylitzes (Wortley 2010), are accompaniedby commentaries, too, j

and the reader may turn to these with profit. The Theophanes commentary
is of great value, also as a general work of reference. Skylitzes provides an \

often very closely parallel text from AD 811 and, even for a reader of the
Chronicle of the Logothete, Wortley’s commentary is extremely useful. In
my commentary, some prominence is given to Mango/Scott and Wortley.

Also useful are the notes and commentaries accompanying the Short
History of patriarch Nikephoros (Mango 1990), the Chronicon Paschale
(Whitby/Whitby 1989), and the Chronography of George Synkellos (Adler/

Tfiffin 2002). The introduction to the translation of George Synkellos,
with an extensive treatment of the beginnings of the genre and matters of
chronology, deserves special mention. s

The papers by Jenkins 1965 (covering the years AD 867-913) and
Treadgold 1979 (covering the years AD 813-845) provide a partial running
commentary to the Chronicle of the Logothete.

Here, some words on the future of translating and commenting upon I

Byzantine texts may be permitted. The need for referencing to physical
books is diminishing; there is a much less obvious need for this today ■

than just a few years ago. We may still be wary of saying so, but, on a -

wide range of topics (from the history of various heresies and Arab-
Byzantine relations to prosopographical data on individual Byzantines
and foreigners), openly available electronic resources provide excellent

help. In addition, future readers will do more of their reading in an
electronic form, and they will be constantly accessing web resources
when doing so. As commentators, we are well advised to consider how
our trade is evolving and (as some already do) to take steps accordingly.
Already, if we provide online versions of our conventional books, we
can enrich our commentary with GPS coordinates, hyperlinks and
disambiguations. It is a matter of some regret to me that I am not able to
do my bit to this end.

Finally: why read the Chronicle of the Logothete? Hopefully, some
reasons have emerged in this Introduction. In sum, the Chronicle is one
of the most important witnesses to the hundred years of Byzantine history
after Theophanes (who wrote into the early ninth century). Even more
importantly, by the construction of a chain of events since Adam and Eve it
tells us something about what the Byzantines saw as their history and why,
in their opinion, things had occurred as they had. Considering the text’s
popularity, we may think that this is history as the Byzantines themselves
liked to read it.

Contents of the Chronicle

Chapters 1-23 (pp. 15-28): Creation of the World; Adam and Eve in

Paradise; Cain and Abel
*

Chapters 24-44 (pp. 28-51): Genealogy after Adam: Biblical History until
the Babylonian Captivity

Chapters 45-48 (pp. 51-58): Assyrians-Medes-Persians; Alexander the
Great and his followers; Ptolemaic Egypt until Cleopatra VII; Caesar and
the Eastern Mediterranean; rulers in Palestine

Chapters 49-87 (pp. 58-80): The Pagan empire, from Caesar and Augustus
to Diocletian and the Tetrarchy; Constantius Chlorus and Constantine:
preparations for Christianity

Chapters 88-137 (pp. 80-253): The Christian empire

88 (pp. 80-84): Constantine the 91 (p. 88): Jovian;

Great;

89 (pp. 84-86): Constantius II;

90 (pp. 86-87): Julian;

92 (pp. 88-90): Valentinian;

93 (p. 90): Valens;

94 (p. 91): Gratian;

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

95 (pp. 91-93): Theodosios I;

96 (pp. 94-95): Arkadios;

97 (pp. 95-98): Theodosios II;

98 (pp. 98-99): Marcian;

99 (pp. 99-100): Leo I;

100 (p. 101): Leo II;

101 (pp. 101-102): Zeno;

102 (pp. 102-105): Anastasios
Dikoros;

103 (pp. 105-107): Justin I;

104 (pp. 107-111): Justinian I;

105 (pp. 111-113): Justin II;

106 (p. 113): Tiberios I;

107 (pp. 114-117): Maurice;

108 (pp. 117-119): Phokas;

109 (pp. 119-123): Herakleios;

110 (p. 123): Constantine III;

111 (p. 124): Heraklonas;

112 (pp. 124-125): Constans II;

113 (pp. 125-127): Constantine IV;

114 (pp. 128-130): Justinian II;

115 (pp. 130-131): Leontios;

116 (pp. 131-132): Tiberios II
(Apsimaros);

117 (pp. 132-133): Justinian II
(second period as ruler);

118 (pp. 133-134): Philippikos
(Bardanes);

119 (pp. 134-135): Anastasios II
(Artemios);

120 (pp. 135-136): Theodosios III;

121 (pp. 136-141): Leo III;

122 (pp. 141-147): Constantine V;

123 (pp. 147-149): Leon IV;

124 (pp. 149-154): Constantine VI;

125 (pp. 155-157): Nikephoros;

126 (p. 158): Staurakios;

127 (pp. 158-159): Michael I;

128 (pp. 159-162): Leo V;

129 (pp. 162—163): Michael II;

130 (pp. 163-175): Theophilos;

131 (pp. 175-194): Michael III and
Theodora;

132 (pp. 195-202): Basil I;

133 (pp. 202-218): Leo VI;

134 (pp. 219-221): Alexander;

135 (pp. 221-229): Constantine VII;

136 (pp. 229-251): Romanos I;

137 (pp. 251-253): Constantine VII
(as sole ruler)

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adler, W./P. Tuffin (2002), The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine
Chronicle of Universal Historyfrom the Creation (translated with introduction
and notes by W. Adler and P. Tuffin), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Featherstone, J.M./J. Signes-Codofier (2015), Chronographiae quae Theophanis
Continuati nomine fertur Libri I-IV (ed. & transl. J.M. Featherstone/J. Signes-
Codofier), Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 53, Berlin-New York: Walter
de Gruyter.

Jeffreys, E./M. Jeffreys/R. Scott et al. (1986), The Chronicle of John Malalas:
A Translation, Australian Association for Byzantine Studies: Byzantina
Australiensia 4, Melbourne.

Jenkins, R.J.H. (1965), ‘The Chronological Accuracy of the “Logothete” for the
Years A.D. 867-913,’ Dumbarton Oaks Papers 19, pp. 91-112.

Kaldellis, A. (1998 ), Joseph Genesios: On the Reigns of the Emperors (translation),
Australian Association for Byzantine Studies: Byzantina Australiensia 11,
Canberra.

Mango, C. (1990), Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History (text,
translation, and commentary), Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 13
(Series Washingtonensis), Dumbarton Oaks Texts 10, Washington.

Mango, C./R. Scott (1997), The Chronicles of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine
and Near Eastern History, A.D. 284-813 (translated with introduction and
commentary by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott with the assistance of Geoffrey
Greatrex), Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Neville, L. (2018), Guide to Byzantine Historical writing, Cambridge-New York:
Cambridge University Press.

Sevcenko, I. (2011), Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur
Liber Quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris Amplectitur (ed. & transl. I. Sevcenko),
Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 42, Berlin-New York: Walter de
Gruyter.

Treadgold, W. (1979), ‘The Chronological Accuracy of the Chronicle of
Symeon the Logothete for the Years 813-845,’ Dumbarton Oaks Papers 33,
pp. 157-197.

Wahlgren, S. (2006), Symeonis Magistri et Logothetae Chronicon (ed.
S. Wahlgren), Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 44:1, Berlin-New York:
Walter de Gruyter.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Wallraff, M. (2007), Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments.
In collaboration with Umberto Roberto and Karl Pinggera (translated by
W. Adler), Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte
NF 15, Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Whitby, M./M. Whitby (1986), The History ofTheophylact Simocatta (an English
translation with introduction and notes), Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Whitby, M./M. Whitby (1989), Chronicon Paschale 284-628 (translated with notes
and introduction), Translated Texts for Historians 7, Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press.

Wortley, J. (2010), John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057
(introduction, text and notes; translated by John Wortley), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

1 When God, the Timeless, brought this world, which did not earlier exist,
into time, He created heaven and earth in the beginning. 1 2 Water came into
being at the same time as earth, and so did fire. And a clear proof of this is
that abundant fire comes forth from stone and iron, which are from earth,
and that water pours richly from springs and wells. For since earth came
into being from non-existing components, so obviously is the case also
with that which is in earth. 2 Thus everything was done according to God’s
will. But since heaven was like a tent and was strung around the rest of
the material world and darkened the region within, God said: ‘Let there be
light.’ And as soon as the word was pronounced, light, this most beneficial
natural phenomenon, was brought into being, and it dispelled the darkness
which was a consequence of the interposition of the bulk of heaven, and at
once it transformed the air, which because of the heaven had been lightless,
into exceeding radiance. 3 But it is obvious that everything that existed
before the creation of this world was in light. For neither the choirs of the
angels nor the vyhole heavenly host lived in darkness. Rather they fulfilled
the duty befitting them in light and every spiritual joy, from the time when
they, too, had been brought from nothing into being. 4 Since this light,
for the reason mentioned, had been enclosed in the upper region, again
God created the light that now shines over and brightens the area between
heaven and earth. 5 This is what happened on the first day of Creation.
On this day the heavenly powers were created, according to Moses in the
Lesser Genesis}

1 For Chapter 1, cf. Genesis 1.1-5.

2 The Lesser (Lepte) Genesis is the Liber Jubilaeorum, known from a translation
into Ge’ez as well as from fragments in several other languages, including Greek. See
J.C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees. A Critical Text , Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 1989,
and J. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (Guides to the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha),
London etc.: Sheffield Academic Press (Bloomsbury), 2001. Some excerpts from the same
work are also present in George Synkellos (see Adler/Tuffin 2002, pp. 8-9).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

2 On the Firmament 1

Again, on the second day, when the abyss was spread around the earth
without limit and boundary, God ordered that a firmament should come
out of the waters and in between them, and this He then called the ‘vault.’ 2
And at once, upon the command, the work was finished. 2 This creation
was called ‘firmament’ because of the fine and thin nature of the waters
above and below. And it was called ‘vault of heaven’ since it could be seen
through, 3 being stretched above our heads as a hide.

3 On the Sea 4

Again, on the third day, God ordered the waters that were enclosed under
the firmament to gather in one place, which He called sea, so that the dry
land should become visible, and thus deep hollow spaces in the earth
received the waters.

4 On the Dry Land and What Grows out of the Earth 5

The earth was called dry since this designation is in accordance with its
nature. For earth is what has dryness as its principal property. 2 When the
earth had shed the waters lying on it, it was ordered to bring forth plants
and seeds of different kinds and fruit-bearing trees. 3 And at once the earth
was stirred into bearing fruit, and it produced countless kinds of shoots
and plants, and it took on a worthy and pleasing appearance. For it was not
only brightened by the sprouting of cornfields, but it was also well adorned
with the spontaneous growth of cedars and cypresses and all other kinds
of trees.

1 For Chapter 2, cf. Genesis 1.6-8.

2 Greek oopavdi;.

3 Oi)pav6q is here associated with op&co, ‘to see,’ with a kind of popular etymology.

4 For Chapter 3, cf. Genesis 1.9-10.

5 For Chapter 4, cf. Genesis 1.11-13.

5 On the Lights of Heaven 1

Again, on the fourth day, God said that there should be lights, and the sun
and the moon and the stars came into being, just as He Who ordered it had
willed. 2 And that most pure light which had existed on the first day of
Creation, 2 He divided between these, and He gave manifold benefit from
these to everyone. 3 3 One benefit was to shine and by their light richly
illuminate the world; another was, by rising and setting, to provide a basis
for the measurement of time; and yet another, to benefit by some signs and
in different ways those who inquire piously and do not ask beyond what
is proper. 4 4 Similar signs are also often given by the moon. For when its
light is thin and clear by day, it promises stable fair weather. But when its
beams are blurred and it appears somewhat red, it announces that there
will be violent rain from the clouds or a storm. 5 In the same way too the
sun indicates that there will be violent atmospheric conditions when, by its
rays or its effulgence, it assumes the colour of coal and almost the colour of
blood. Many seafarers, farmers and travellers on the road have been helped
by these kinds of signs on many occasions.

6 On Fishes and Birds 5

On the fifth day, God ordered that the waters should bring forth crawling
animals 6 and alsp winged creatures to fly in the firmament of heaven. And
with the command, the work was completed. The ability to engender life
was inherent in the waters and, at once, the sea gave birth to manifold kinds
of animals, and rivers and seas were filled with fish of appropriate kinds.
2 The waters also brought forth the winged creatures, 7 which in some way
have a kinship with the water animals. For in the same way as the fishes go
forward in the water by moving their fins (and they steer a straight course
by frequently changing the direction of the tail), so also the birds swim
through the air and cut it, and arrive where they want to.

1 For Chapter 5, cf. Genesis 1.14-19.

2 The text is here corrupt, but the approximate meaning seems clear.

3 Or: ‘everything.’

4 An improper use of the signs would be to engage in magic on the basis of astrology.

5 For Chapter 6, cf Genesis 1.20-23.

6 ipiterin^uxav ^toocov.

7 Or: ‘birds’ (nereivd).

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7 On Tame and Wild Animals 1

Again, on the sixth day, the earth was bidden to bring forth living animals
according to their kind: four-legged animals, crawling animals and wild. And
at once it brought forth both savage and tame animals. God ordered the earth
to bring forth living animals, in order that, from this, the difference between
the soul of the irrational animal and the human soul should be known. For
the soul of the irrational animals was born from the earth, whereas the soul
of humankind was created by the divine inbreathing. 2 And, further, that
the soul of irrational animals is of earth can be understood from Scripture
itself. For it is said: ‘The soul of every animal is its blood.’ 2 When blood
coagulates, it becomes flesh, and when flesh decays, it is dissolved into
earth. Therefore, it is logical that the soul of the irrational animal should
be of an earthy nature. 3 When, then, everything had been adorned with
appropriate beauty (the heaven with the rays of the lights; the sea and the air
with the swimming and flying animals; the earth with the manifold varieties
of plants and grazing animals), the Creator of everything introduces man
into the world as a kind of king, and it is not as the last and most worthless
thing that He creates man, but as destined to rule from his very creation.

8 On the Creation of Man

For what does Scripture say? ‘And God said: Let Us make man in Our
image and likeness, and let them rule over the fishes of the sea and the
birds of heaven and the wild animals and all earth.’ 3 2 All other parts
of Creation were brought into being by command alone. But man was
marked out by a special distinction besides this at his creation. For he was
created following deliberation, in order to show that he is of particular
worth. 3 For the words ‘Let Us make man in Our image and likeness’ mean
nothing other than that the Father, when He Created man, had recourse in
counsel to His only begotten Son: the Son Who, according to the apostle,
is the ‘effulgence of His glory’ and ‘the very imprint of His substance.” 4

1 For Chapter 7, cf. Genesis 1.24-25.

2 Leviticus 17.11; cf. Deuteronomy 12.23 and Genesis 9.4.

3 Genesis 1.26.

4 For these expressions see Hebrews 1.3. The apostle referred to is Paul who the

Byzantines considered to be the author of the (Letter to the) Hebrews (an opinion not shared
by modern scholarship).

For it would not have been possible for him to have recourse to any
counsellor other than his living, enhypostatic Word, indistinguishable in
form and of the same substance and the same power. 4 The works which,
as Moses says, God made in the six days, were twenty-two in number.
Therefore, there are twenty-two letters in the alphabet, 1 and the same
number of books of the Hebrews, and twenty-two generations from Adam
to Jacob.

9 On ‘in Our Image’

Now, since, as has been said, man was brought into the world like a king,
it is only fitting that he was created in God’s image. For it was necessary
that he who was to rule over the rest should be in the likeness of the King, 2
not showing his worth by a purple garment or a sceptre or a crown, since
the correspondence with the original does not lie in this, but in being
adorned with incorruptibility, immortality and virtue. 2 Honoured by these
properties, man preserves his similarity to the prototype. 3 Further, it is
ffee will that most clearly shows the royal and elevated nature of man and
his similarity to the divine image, and in this sense too, man is the work
of God’s hands, because of the distinction of his creation. 4 For everything
is the consequence of God’s will. 3 Then, after man’s creation, what does
Scripture say? And on the sixth day, God completed His works, which He
did, and on the seventh day, He ceased from all His works, which He had
done, and He blessed the seventh day and consecrated it, since on that day
God ceased from all His works which He had begun to do.’ 5

1 I.e. letters of the Aramaic/Hebrew alphabet.

2 ‘should be ... King’: the Greek is somewhat odd (ojaTtep uva eixova elvat £p\|/t ) x ov tfj?
too (3a<jiX6ax; bpotbriyroi;).

3 Here, too, there seems to be a slight corruption of the text, although the meaning
appears to be clear.

4 ‘because ... creation’ (8tdi t 6 tiptov xfjg KaTaoKeufjq): this is vague; perhaps ‘so as to
give honour to what had been created.’

5 Genesis 2.2-3.

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10 On the Sabbath

Why did God bless the seventh day only and not all days? This is because
each of the others had its blessing from the act of creation taking place in
it. But since this day was in danger of remaining without honour, as no act
of creation took place then, therefore it, too, was blessed by God. 2 Again
Scripture says: ‘And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East,
and He placed the man there, whom He had formed. And, further, God sent
forth from the earth every kind of tree which was beautiful to look at and
good to eat, and He placed the tree of life in the middle of paradise and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ 1

11 On Paradise

Since God planned to honour his rational creation, He also prepares a
glorious place for it to live in, full of every joy, and He places Adam there.
2 Having come so far in the story, one should marvel at God’s ineffable
love for humankind, since He, who had absolute and eternal power over
everything, even offered Himself to till the soil for the sake of it. For He
Who by his Word had created such an extent of heaven and earth and sea,
was more than capable to plant a garden by His utterance alone, and to
establish the most blessed place by His word. However, as has been said,
in order to honour humankind, He who effortlessly, and by His will alone,
brought this world from not being into being, even becomes a gardener for
some mystic reason. 3 Scripture says further: ‘And God brought all the wild
and tame animals and the crawling animals to Adam, in order to see what he
would call them. And whatever Adam called it became an animal’s name.’ 2

12 On the Naming of the Animals 3

Now, from this it could be seen what great honour was in store for man,
paid to him by Creation itself. For Adam sat as a kind of leader in front of
the animals, and God brought the countless wild and tame animals and the

1 Genesis 2.8-9.

2 Genesis 2.19.

3 For Chapter 12, cf. Genesis 2.19-20.

different kinds of birds to him, in order that they should acclaim as leader
him whom He had made in His own image. 2 And Adam was inspired by
a divine and prophetic spirit, and he gave names to every kind of irrational
animal. And the animals, as if they received a great honour from this
pronouncement, went away in pairs.

13 On the Creation of Woman

Since among all these species there was no one similar to Adam, again
God, according to what Scripture tells, said: ‘It is not good for the man
to be alone. Let Us make a helper to him of his own kind,’ 1 calling the
female a ‘helper’ with regard to the begetting of children. For she was to
work together with the male to increase the species and ensure its survival.
2 Then Scripture adds: ‘And God cast a distraction on Adam and put him
to sleep and took one of his ribs and filled up with flesh instead of it, and
He built the rib, which He had taken from Adam, into a woman.’ 2 3 The
meaning of the Scripture is: having decided, as He had also promised, to
give Adam a helper of his own kind, God, Who made everything with
wisdom, does not shape the female from earth, as He had done with the
male, but He puts the male to sleep, and He subjects his mind to visions
by the descent of the Spirit, and He invites his soul’s eye to the sight of
limitless light, in order that the man, being stunned by the vision of such
beauty, should not perceive what was happening. Then He takes one of
Adam’s ribs, effortlessly not inflicting any feeling of pain on him, and
at once, like a craftsman or a quick doctor, He filled the hole with flesh.
4 While He distracted Adam’s soul by the insatiate pleasure of the sight, 3
He built the rib, which He had taken, into a woman, mystically shaping
her into a rational creature, adorned with irresistible beauty and the
most comely form. And He brings this creature to Adam. 5 Adam, who
participated in divine inspiration, realised that she came from him, and
he said: ‘This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She will
be called woman, since she has been taken from her man.’ 4 6 Now, when

1 Genesis 2.18.

2 Genesis 2.21-22.

3 ‘insatiate (or ‘unceasing’) pleasure of the sight’: or ‘the insatiate/unceasing divine
pleasure.’ The Greek text is corrupt at this point.

4 Genesis 2.23.

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Adam was looking at the woman he did not respond to her as to a woman,
but he was experiencing joy in his soul as if he beheld himself, for he saw
that also she was of similar design. Likewise, the woman was very glad on
seeing the man, realising that she was of his kind. 1 7 When they thus were
in the paradise of luxury, God gave them a law as a benefaction, so as to
show that, by their nature, the humans possessed their own free will, but
also to indicate that they are subject to a lord and guardian. This He did by
saying thus: ‘You may eat from every tree in the paradise. But from the tree
of knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from that, you two. The
day you eat from it, you will suffer death.’ 2 That is, ‘you will be mortals.’
For this is also Symmachus’ interpretation: 3 ‘The day when you eat from
the tree, you will be mortal.’

14 On the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

But no one should suppose that the tree was of such nature that it gave
knowledge of good and bad. For there was nothing harmful in paradise.
But a restriction was placed on the plant as an exercise in the use of free
will. And it is evident that the tree was not the cause of knowledge to Adam.
For the command was given as if to someone who already knew both, good
as well as evil, obedience and disobedience, and therefore knowledge
preceded the command. 2 This command was given so that, as has been
said, humankind, who, moved by its own will, over which it had control,
had been allowed to take from every other tree but had been commanded
to abstain from this one only, should realise that it is subject to a lord, who
gave the command. 3 Thus Adam and Eve lived in this most pure place, and
they abundantly enjoyed the diversity of the immortal blossoms.

15 On the Devil and the Serpent

But the enemy of our nature became angry and envious at the great honour
accorded to the man and started a war against him, and he assumed the

1 For § 6, cf. Genesis 2.26.

2 Genesis 2.16-17.

3 This Symmachus, one of the translators of the Old Testament, is also mentioned below.

Chapter 67, § 2.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 23

shape of a serpent and came to the woman (this was while Adam was
absent), and cunningly and by lies he diverted her from what is right, and
he deceived Adam together with her and made them become transgressors
of the divine law. 2 For Scripture says the following about these things:
‘The serpent was more sagacious than all the other animals on earth which
the Lord God had made.’ 1 The serpent is called sagacious since he was
to deceive the rational animal, the human, who differed from the others
with regard to intelligence. 3 Then it adds: ‘And the serpent said to the
woman: “Did God say to you: Do not eat from any tree in paradise?” And
the woman said to the serpent: “We may eat from the fruit of paradise, but
with regard to the fruit of the tree which stands in the middle of paradise,
God said: Do not eat from it or even touch it, lest you die.’” 2 4 Did the
serpent also use human speech? Not at all, but the first humans, 3 since
they were untainted by evil, had the most acute senses, very much different
from ours, and thus their ears could hear and interpret any sound. And
Scripture 4 says that the wild and the tame animals once spoke with one
tongue. However, when Adam was condemned, they too were silenced,
and the serpent was deprived of his legs and had to creep on the earth, and
poison was put on his tongue. 5 Then Scripture adds: ‘And the serpent said
to the woman: “You will not die. It is simply that God knew that the day
that you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods and
understand what is good and what is evil.” And the woman saw that the tree
was good for eating and pleasant to look at and beautiful to perceive, and
she took of its fr t uit and ate and gave to her man. And they ate, and the eyes
of the two were opened, and they realised that they were naked.’ 5

16 On ‘the Eyes of the Two Were Opened’

It is not because the first humans then for the first time literally opened their
eyes that it is said that ‘the eyes of the two were opened.’ For they are shown
to have been able to see even before eating, since it is said: ‘And the woman
saw that the tree was good for eating and pleasant to look at.’ 6 That their eyes

1 Genesis 3.1.

2 Genesis 3.1-3.

3 Or: 'first created beings’ (TtpcoxdjtXcujToi).

4 ‘Scripture’: here, as in § 5, this is my addition.

5 Genesis 3.4-7.

6 Cf. above, Chapter 15, § 5.

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24 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

were opened is rather said in the sense that, through the transgression, they
lost their ignorance of evil, an ignorance which also made the nakedness of
no consequence. 2 For it is in the nature of any eye to be awakened only by
the mind to what it sees (for the eye has no understanding of its own), and
therefore, when the mind is occupied with something else, we are often able
to pass by even a person we know very well, as a blind person would do;
and, if we are accused of this, we excuse ourselves by explaining that we
were preoccupied with our thoughts. 1 3 Thus Adam and Eve are awakened
to seeing by the perception of the mind. For the words ‘they realised that
they were naked’ indicate the revelation that came to the mind, not the actual
opening of the eyes. 4 It should also be said that, prior to their disobedience,
when it was not the time for the begetting of children, God had not given it to
humans to pay heed to nakedness, but they lived as if without a body, for the
time had not come for them to live in the flesh. 2 But when the disobedience
took place and gave rise to mortality, the feeling of shame before each other
was rightly given to them. And they noticed at last the difference of their
physical forms, a difference envisaged in advance by the Creator for the
needs of the continuation of the species.

17 On the Leaves of the Fig Tree

Thus, realising that they were naked, Adam and Eve, after the transgression,
made themselves girdles from fig leaves, alluding by this tree to the
nature of their crime. For just as the fruit of the fig is sweet but its leaf
most harsh and bitter, so too every sin seems sweet when committed, but
afterwards it brings pain to the perpetrator. 2 What does Scripture say
then? ‘And they heard the voice of Lord God walking in paradise in the
evening, and Adam and his wife hid themselves in the middle of the wood
of paradise.’ 3 3 Having come to understand their sin after the daring act,
they are paralysed by fear of the Judge, and they attempt to hide from the
eye from which nothing escapes, and they avoid appearing and shrink from
showing themselves. On seeing them in such confusion because of their

1 This is a very interesting commentary—a personal aside reflecting an interest in the
problem of human perception as in the ancient Greek tradition.

2 ‘for ... flesh’: this is a free translation of the Greek (oapiciKfjq 5ia96aea)? ofem Kaipov
E/ovisg).

3 Genesis 3.8.

fear, God calls upon them like a loving father and says: ‘Adam, where are
you?’ And Adam said to Him: ‘I heard Your voice when You were walking
in paradise, and I was frightened since I am naked, and I hid myself.’ 1

18 On the Judgement Against the First Humans and the Serpent

Then it could be seen how the luxuriant place that was paradise became
a tribunal and a severe and fearful court. For God brought forward those
who had been harmed, and the one who had done the harm and, having
found that the serpent was guilty of sinning, and that Eve had been sinned
against, He pronounced the punishment appropriate to each of them. 2 2 For,
having declared the serpent cursed, He condemned it to drag along on its
breast and belly and to eat earth instead of edible food. And He pronounced
that Eve should have sorrow as her companion and give birth in pain. And
He judged that Adam should eat bread by the sweat of his brow until he
returned to the earth from which he had been taken. 3 Then Scripture says:
‘And God made garments 3 of skin for Adam and his wife, and He dressed
them in these. And God said: “Behold, Adam has become Our equal and is
able to distinguish between good and evil. And let him not now extend his
hand and take of the tree of life and eat of it and live eternally.’” 4

19 Why Man is Exiled from Paradise, and on the Garments of Skin

It can be understood from what has been said that man, had he tasted the tree
of life, could have lived eternally even after the transgression. Therefore,
in order that man should not become an immortal evil, God declared
him mortal by girding him with mortality. 5 For this is the significance of
the garments of skin, because the animals are dead, so that, through the
dissolution of the body and of the binding [of body and soul], 6 all sin should
be destroyed completely.

1 Genesis 3.14-16.

2 For Chapter 18, §§ 1-2, cf. Genesis 3.11-19.

3 Or: ‘shirts’ (xixwvag).

4 Genesis 3.21-22.

5 ‘girding him with mortality’ (veicpdiiyn jiepipaXcbv): or ‘dressing him in something
dead’ (i.e. in the skin of dead animals).

6 [‘of body and soul’]: added here by me.

26 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

20 On ‘Behold, Adam has Become Our Equal’

It is said by God: ‘Behold, Adam has become Our equal and is able to
distinguish between good and evil.’ This is not said as if man, through
his disobedience, progressed to the understanding of virtue and evil, but
because he had been created in this way from the beginning. For earlier,
Scripture said: ‘God made man; in God’s image did He make him.’ 1 It is
clear that the one made according to God’s image already had the ability
laid down in his nature to discern between good and evil. 2 Therefore, in
order that he should not decide of his own free will to take from the tree of
life and become an immortal evil, he and Eve were cast out onto the earth
from which he had been created. 3 For, what does Holy Scripture say after
all this? ‘And the Lord God sent him out of the luxuriant paradise to work
the earth from which he had been taken. And He cast Adam out and settled
him opposite the luxuriant paradise, and He placed the cherubim and the
flaming sword, the one which turns, to guard the road to the tree of life.’ 2

21 On the Cherubim and the Flaming Sword

When man had been cast out from the blessed place, unconquerable and
most haughty guards were put into place to protect the road to the Tree of
Life, so that no one henceforth should be able to approach this place with
impure 3 feet. 2 A flaming sword was also placed there, so that anyone who
approached should, being composed of matter, be consumed by fire there
and be destroyed. 3 The sword turns, so that in the new life, 4 when man
becomes the inhabitant of paradise again, it will shine for the righteous who
come to the divine place of immortality, while it will burn the unjust if they
come close. 4 Prior to Adam’s transgression, the earth brought everything
forth of its own accord but, after this, even earth itself was ordered not to
bring forth anything without toil.

22 Thus Adam left paradise together with Eve, and he had intercourse
with her and begot Cain, and after him Abel. 5 Cain was a farmer, whereas

1 Genesis 1.27.

2 Genesis 3.23-24.

3 ‘impure’: or ‘unhallowed/profane’ (p£pf|/.ou;).

4 ‘new life’: or ‘regeneration’ (rcaXiyysvsaiif).

5 For Chapters 22-23, cf. Genesis 4.1-15.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 27

Abel was a shepherd. 2 Abel offered a gift to God from his first-born
lambs, and God accepted his offering. Cain, however, did not offer from
the first-born but brought his offering to God only after having enjoyed
the fruits himself and with other people. Therefore, God did not accept
them [not only these; there are also other examples, taken from the Lesser
Genesis, of the extreme wickedness of Cain] 1 (this became obvious through
the fire sent from heaven to consume the offerings), and Cain envied Abel.
3 It should first be investigated why God did not accept Cain’s offering.
Scripture answers this question itself, saying: ‘And it happened that, after
some days, Cain made an offering of the fruits of the earth.’ 2 By this, Cain
is put to shame. For he did not offer the best of the produce, nor the first,
to God, but reserved this for himself, while he tried to honour God in an
impious way with the second best. 4 Further: why does Scripture call the
offering of Abel’s victims gifts, but the gifts of Cain’s fruits a sacrifice ?
With regard to this question it can be said, following a correct method
of reasoning: Abel’s sacrifice was called a gift because he imitates those
who give gifts when he brings the victim to God. 5 For Abel sacrifices the
first-born of the animals and offers the fattest of the meat in the manner
of those who, when giving a gift, want to please the recipients, and select
the very best and give everything in its entirety, and bring the gift to the
people they love without taking anything away from it. 6 For, the one who
makes a sacrifice is likely to make a division so that he pours the blood
over the altar but takes the meat home. But he who gives a gift surrenders
the gift in its entirety to the recipient. 3 1 think that it was in this manner
that Abel dedicated the first-born, and he demonstrates that his purpose
is love of God rather than love of self. By contrast, Cain accords the first
produce to himself and he impiously deigns to offer to God the second
best, after days had passed rather than at once, and he demonstrates that
he loves himself rather than God. And, as is reasonable, he gives offence,
and his gift is thrown back at him as unworthy.

23 Cain was the first to devise a plough and to feel greed, whereas
Abel was concerned for justice. Having killed Abel, Cain concealed the
body, thinking that he would escape notice in this way. But God hears

1 The text included in square brackets is certainly a gloss added in the margin and then
incorporated by a scribe into the text.

2 Genesis 4.3.

3 ‘in its entirety to the recipient’: the Greek (navxi tcp XapP&vovn) is slightly awkward

and probably corrupt.

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the blood crying out to Him. For God hears the righteous even if they are
dead, but He turns away even the prayers of the unrighteous. For He has
decided that the former should live though they are dead, and the latter
He has condemned to death from any true life even if they are still alive.

2 God punishes Cain by not killing him at once, but He curses him with
fear and sorrow for his whole life. Therefore, when Cain fears that he will
be killed because he is a murderer, God says: ‘Not so: whoever kills Cain
will be punished sevenfold.’ 1 This is as if to say: ‘You should not think
that your punishment will be small or negligible, nor should you have
great hopes that you will escape the hardships of life by the swiftness of
death. Rather you will have to suffer punishment commensurate with your
sin. Therefore, you who have introduced the greatest of evil to the rest of
mankind will be punished sevenfold. Thus you will not be killed now,
as anyone who dares to kill you now and deliver you from the hardships
of life will annul your sevenfold punishment.’ Another version: ‘Not so:
whoever kills Cain will annul a sevenfold punishment. Every person 2 will
die because of his own sin. But you, who introduced murder and became
the guide for others to this sin, will pay a sevenfold punishment, that is,
you will be punished sevenfold. For, to die brings an end to the evils of
life, but a life in fear and sorrow brings limitless deaths, which are felt.’

3 Thus, trembling and wailing, Cain lived out the rest of his life as if
possessed by a demon and suffering from seizures; this was the sign given
from God that he should not be killed. After the condemnation he lived a
more despicable life, and became greedy and rapacious. And he was the
first to devise measures and weights and boundaries for land, and he built
a city and forced all his people to gather at one place and to devote their
time to war.

24 Cain took his sister Sauas for wife 3 and had a son, Enos. 4 From him
was born Gaidad, and from him, Maouel, 5 and from him, Methuselah.
Methuselah begets Lamech. Lamech took two wives, Adda and Sela, and
by Adda he had as sons Jubal, who was a kithara player, and Jobel, who
was a cattle keeper; and by Sela he had Thobel, who was a copper- and
ironsmith, and a daughter, Noema. 2 And up to this point, the family

1 Genesis 4.15.

2 ‘Every person’ (ekswtov pev yap gicaaxoi;): freely translated and somewhat uncertain.

3 Or: ‘Awan.’ The name and identity of Cain’s wife are not given in Genesis; this
information derives from Jubilees 4.9.

4 For Chapter 24, cf. Genesis 4.17-5.32.

5 Or: ‘Maiel.’

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of Cain is considered worthy of being remembered in books. But he is
banned from the line of patriarchs, that he should neither be considered
one of the first, nor the beginner of a line. 1 Because of the brutality of his
character, he is in a way exiled from rational nature to the irrational. 2 As
Moses says, Cain died when his house collapsed on him. 3 At the age of
230 Adam begot Seth and, having lived for an additional 700 years, he
dies on the very day of the anniversary of the transgression. For, while
God’s day has a span of a thousand years, Adam lived for a mere 930
years and then died. 4 It is said that Adam was the first to be buried
in the earth from which he was taken, and a Hebrew tradition tells that
there is a monument to him in the region of Jerusalem. It was as it should
be that Adam should be buried in the earth before anyone else, for he
was the first to hear from God: ‘You are earth, and to earth you will
return.’ 3 It is said 4 that Abel’s body disappeared, indicating good hopes
for righteous people in the future. 5 Seth took his sister Azouran for
wife 5 and begot Enos at the age of 205 years. He was the first who had
the confidence to 6 invoke the name of the Lord God; that is, to address
God with His name. 6 This Seth gave names to the five planets: Kronos,
Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Hermes (for, God had named the two lights
Sun and Moon); for, Seth was the first to understand the wisdom of the
heavenly motions. 7 For, since Adam had predicted that there would be a
destruction of the whole world, either by water or by fire, the descendants
of Seth devised two stelae, one of clay and the other of stone, and they
engraved learning on these. This Seth invented the Hebrew script and
became the first writer. 8 Enos married his sister Emma. 7 At the age of
190 he begets Kainan. At the age of 170 Kainan begot Maleleel. At the
age of 165 Maleleel begot Jared. At the age of 162 Jared begot Enoch. He
is the first to learn and to teach reading and writing, and he is deemed
worthy of revelations concerning the divine mysteries. At the age of 165
Enoch begot Methuselah and, having lived for a further 200 years and

1 Because Cain is excluded from the line of patriarchs, the narrative continues with
Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, and his offspring.

2 ‘exiled ... irrational’: or ‘classed with irrational rather than rational nature.’

3 Genesis 3.19.

4 Or: ‘tradition/Moses/Scripture says’ (cpr|oi); cf. above. Chapter 15, § 4, etc.

5 So Jubilees 4.11 (Genesis 4.26 docs not mention Seth’s wife specifically).

6 fiXatoEv.

7 Noam according to Jubilees 4.13 (Genesis 5.9 does not mention the name of his wife).

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having borne witness to the egregoroi' concerning the punishment for
the transgression, he is removed to Eden where paradise is. 9 It 2 should
be noted that, whenever angels falter and turn to vile behaviour, then man
is deemed worthy to experience a change for the better. For it is said that
it was in his 3 days that those angels who are also called egregoroi came
down to earth. 10 At the age of 187 Methuselah begot Lamech. At the age
of 188 Lamech begot Noah. At the age of 500 Noah begot Shem and, after
him, Ham and, after him, Japheth. 11 The egregoroi have intercourse
with the daughters of men and become fathers of the giants, and they
introduce divination and magic to the humans as well as astronomy and
astrology and the knowledge of all heavenly motions, 4 and they gave
the women the knowledge of all this, and they made humans attain the
utmost of evil. [He says that the children of the egregoroi are evil spirits
who are lusty and cherish the body] 5 By this, the egregoroi provoked God
to anger against them, and they are thrown into the depths of the earth.

25 God, wishing to destroy everyone by a flood, commanded Noah
alone (Noah had won His liking because of his righteousness) to build an
ark in order to preserve himself and his kin. 6 2 And the ark is prepared by
him over the course of a total of one hundred years, but the years are made
longer during its construction 7 because of his great goodness. For, through
his magnanim ity, he caused the impending destruction to be delayed, and
he brought it about that there was sufficient time for his household 8 to
repent. 3 Having entered the ark, Noah and his three sons, in accordance
with the divine guidance, brought in seven of each of the clean animals
and two of each unclean, to preserve the best for the continuation of every
species. When this had been done, the flood came over the earth. This was

1 Or: ‘Watchers,’ descended from Heaven (see below, §§ 9 and 11). This derives from the
Book of Jubilees or the Book of Enoch (see Adler/Tuffln 2002, p. 12ff.). Cf. also Genesis 5.24
and 6.4.

2 The whole of § 9 is likely to be a marginal gloss that has entered the text at a secondary
stage.

3 I.e. Enoch’s.

4 -fn|/r|Xfjq KOtl nF.if.6pou Kivtjascoi;.

5 ‘He says ... body’ is most certainly a marginal gloss that has entered the text at a
secondary stage.

6 On Noah and the flood, cf. Genesis 6-9.

7 HTiKuvovrai 8e oi -/povoi tfjq KaTaaKeuflq.

8 ‘his household’ (tot? auviouatv): or ‘people conversing with him.’ From ‘his great
goodness’ and onwards it could be that God is the intended subject (here I have taken it for
granted that it is Noah and that there is no change of subject).

in the 600th year of Noah, and the water descended for a total of forty days
and as many nights. 4 When the water was already receding and the ark
had come to rest on the mountains of Armenia, Noah and his three sons
leave the ark together with their wives and their whole household, and he
drives the animals out from it. Noah offers a sacrifice to God and beseeches
Him not to make another flood. God showed His appreciation of the man’s
virtue and promised this, putting up the rainbow as a sign. 5 The flood took
place in Noah’s 600th year. There are 2,242 years from Adam until Noah
and the flood. 1

26 In the second year after the flood, Shem, who was a hundred years
old, begot Arphaxad. 2 At the age of 135 Arphaxad begot Sala. 3 When
he grew up, his father taught him letters. And when Sala once had set out
on his own, thinking about founding a colony, he comes to the land of the
Chaldeans, where he finds letters carved into rocks. This was the tradition
stemming from the egregoroi. Sala wrote it down, and he himself sinned
because of it and also taught others the absurdities contained in it. 4 At the
age of 130 Sala begot Eber. During his time humans once again multiply
into a countless multitude and, having reached a height of evil, they decide
to build a tower 2 as high as the heaven, so as to be able to ascend to heaven
through it. 5 They built this tower at the behest of Nebrod and in order to
escape inundations, supposing that God was laying plans against them with
water. The total number of peoples engaged in the building was seventy,
and they had all the same language. Nebrod, the giant, the son of Chouse
the Ethiopian, hunted for food and gave them animals to eat. It was the task
of Eber, the son of Sala, to ensure the progress of the construction work.
6 When it seemed to them that the project was prospering, God confused
their tongues, dividing them into different kinds of languages. It is said that
only Eber kept the ancient language, and his descendants, who inherited
this language, called themselves ‘Hebrews’ from their founding father, and
they called the language ‘Hebrew.’ 7 Proof that this was the language before
the confusion are the ancient names. 3 Where it is not possible to produce
an etymology from any other language, it is possible to make an interpre¬
tation according to this language. There is, for example, no explanation

1 From the information given above, the expected sum should be 2,262 years (230+20
5+190+170+165+162+165+187+188+500+100 = 2,262). Cf. also below, Chapter 33, § 5, with
note.

2 On the Tower of Babel, cf. Genesis 11.1-9.

3 Or: ‘names of the ancients’: i.e. of people before the flood.

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to be found in any other language of the name of Adam, but in Hebrew
it means ‘human being.’ And the name of Noah cannot be explained in
any other idiom, but in Hebrew it means ‘righteousness’; and Chous means
‘Ethiopian,’ and Mesraeim ‘Egypt,’ and Phalek ‘division.’ 8 The tower,
work upon which had gone on for forty-three years, remained half-finished,
due to the discord following the confusion of the tongues. The city at the
place was named Confusion, after the event. This is Babylon, which is
built there. For the Hebrews call confusion ‘babylon.’ Later, God overturns
the tower completely by a storm, but there are still 1 traces left of the tower
between Asour and Babylon.

27 At the age of 134 Eber begot Phalek. It is at the beginning of Phalek’s
days that Noah’s sons quarrel and divide the earth between themselves. [At
the age of 130 years Phalek begot Ragau and, having lived for a further
209 years, he died. 2 There are a total of 3,000 years from Adam until the
death of Phalek.] 2 Therefore, Phalek’s name is appropriate. For it translates
as ‘division,’ alluding to both the partitions: first, the allotment of the
earth is made by Noah’s sons during his reign; further, the division 3 of
the supposed time of 6,000 years happens at the end of his days; the first
division 4 takes place at the beginning, the second at the end of his life.

3 Then the three sons of Noah send for all their descendants, and Noah gives
them a written document defining the division of the land, and everyone,
together with their tribes and their families, receives lands 5 and regions
and villages and islands and rivers according to the exposition below.

4 Shem, Noah’s first-born son, receives the land from Persia and Bactria
as far as India and Rinokorourai; Ham, Noah’s second son, receives the
land from Rinokorourai as far as Gadeira, everything towards the south;
Japheth, Noah’s third son, receives the land from Media as far as Gadeira,
everything towards the north.

28 The lands allotted to Shem, the first-born son of Noah, are the
following by name: Persia, Bactria, Hyrcania, Babylonia, Cordyne, Assyria,
Mesopotamia, Old Arabia, Elymais, India, Arabia Felix, Coele-Syria,

1 ‘still’: we may ask to what age this ‘still’ refers, and when someone was able to check
that traces of the tower remained.

2 The text within square brackets is certainly a marginal gloss that has entered the text
at a secondary stage. The following ‘Therefore etc.’ belongs as a direct continuation to the
preceding ‘earth between themselves.’

3 ‘division’: i.e. into two, or in the middle (6,000/2 = 3,000).

4 There is a textual problem here, but the meaning seems clear.

5 ‘lands ... villages’: xokoi teal Kklpata Kai yfipai.

Commagene and the whole of Phoenicia. In his part there is the river
Euphrates. 2 Out of Shem’s tribe there appeared a man of the race of giants,
named Kronos (after the planet) by his father. 1 Kronos was the first to rule
over the Assyrians. He had a wife, Semiramis, who was also called Rhea,
and by her he had a son called Zeus, or Pikos, who married his own sister,
Hera. Kronos had another son, too, by the name of Afros, and to him he gave
the land in the direction of Libya 2 as his lot by inheritance. Afros married
Astynome and had a daughter by her whom he called Aphrodite. 3 On
being ousted from power by Zeus, his own son, Kronos left his sons, Zeus
and Ninos, to rule over the Assyrians together with their mother, Rhea. He
himself goes to the West, assumes power there and becomes the king of all
Italy. However, Zeus left the Assyrians and came to his father who accords
him all Italy to rule over. And having reigned for many years, he 3 dies and
is buried in Crete. 4 After Ninos, Thourras became king of the Assyrians.
He was renamed Ares, for he was most warlike and valiant. Renaming him
Baal the god, the Assyrians erect a statue to him and worship him. 5 After
Zeus’ death, his son Faunus reigned. He was renamed Hermes, for he was
most intelligent and fond of learning. It was he who taught mankind how
to extract gold from ore.

29 To Ham, Noah’s second son, the lands named as follows were
allotted: Egypt, Ethiopia (the part which looks towards India), the other
Ethiopia (from which the river of the Ethiopians flows out), Erythra 4 (which
stretches towards the East), Thebais, Libya (as far as Cyrene), Marmaris,
Syrtis, Libya (thp part stretching from the Delta as far as the end of Syrtis),
Numidia, Massyris, Mauritania (which stretches as far as to the Pillars of
Hercules, opposite Gadeira). 2 To him belong in the north, along the sea,
Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Moesia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Camalia, Lycia,
Caria, Lydia, the other 5 Moesia, Troas, Aiolis, Bithynia, the old Phrygia.
He also possesses the islands of Sardinia, Crete and Cyprus, and the river
Geon, called the Nile.

1 The following has parallels in the Chronicle of George the Monk. In the MS Vat.
gr. 163 (of the Logothete) it is hinted that at least some of it stems from Julius Africanus
(cf. Introduction). It is a case of the incorporation of Hellenic deities into the biblical schema,
well known also from other chronicles (cf. Introduction).

2 ‘land in the direction of Libya’ (xf|v npdq At|3or|v yrjv), i.e. Africa.

3 This should refer to Zeus.

4 ‘the other (or ‘another’) Ethiopia ... Erythra’: or ‘another Ethiopia ... called Erythra
[the Red].’

5 Or: ‘another.’

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30 To Japheth, Noah’s third son, the lands named as follows were
allotted: Media, Albania, Amazonis, Greater and Lesser Armenia,
Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Colchis, Bosporania, Maiotis, Dervis,
Sarmatia, Taurianis, Bastranis, Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia,
Molossia, Thessaly, Locris, Boeotia, Aetolia, Attica, Achaea, Pellene
which is called Peloponnese, Arcadia, Epirus, Illyria, Lychnitis, Adria,
from which [is named] the Adriatic sea. 2 To him belong also the following
islands: Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Cythera,
Zakynthos, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Corfu and the Cyclades, and the part of
Asia, which is called Ionia. There is in his territories the river Tigris,
which divides Media from Babylon. 3 From the sons of Japheth, through
Gamer, stem the Gomareis, now called Galatians, and from Magoth, the
people now called Scythians, and from Mados, the Medians. From Ion
stem the Ionians and the other Greeks, and from Thobel, the Thobelians,
now called Iberians, and from Mesoch, the Meschenians, now called
Cappadocians (therefore, their capital is called Mazaka), and from Thera,
the Thracians, and from Tharron, the Tharseis, now called Cilicians (from
him comes the name of Tarsos, the most important city of the Cilicians).

31 When the afore-mentioned distribution had been accomplished,
Shem, who had settled at the same place as his father had done, divides
his part of the inheritance amongst his children. However, Ham’s son,
Canaan, seeing that the land that lies up to Mount Lebanon was good and
productive and very much different from his own, takes up his quarters
there and cuts off this land from the land allotted to the descendants of
Shem. This he did although his father and his brothers tried to stop him
and reminded him of the curses their father Noah had called down upon
those who did not respect his decision. From this point, that whole land
was called Canaan.

32 So when Noah’s three sons had, as has been said, divided the
world into three parts and, since the part given to each of them has been
indicated, it is now time to return to our main subject. Since we ended with
the birth of Ragau from Phalek, let us start again from him. 2 At the age of
132 Ragau begot Serouch. During his time, humans became more arrogant
in their dealings with each other, and they appointed themselves generals
and kings and then, for the first time, they constructed instruments of war
and started to fight each other. And at once, the descendants of Canaan
are defeated, and they are the first to fall under the yoke of slavery, in
accordance with Noah’s curse. 3 At the age of 130 Serouch begot Nachor.
Serouch lived in the land of the Chaldeans and in the city of Ur. When

Nachor grew up, he was taught by his father to interpret every kind of
omen and to distinguish all signs in heaven and on earth and every kind of
Chaldean divination. 4 And at the age of seventy-nine Nachor begot Tharra.
In the forty-third year of the reign of Ninos, the first king of the Assyrians,
Abraham is born. He [Ninos] married his mother, Semiramis, also called
Rhea, and he founds the city of Nineveh and calls it Ninos. From him the
custom has prevailed among the Persians to marry their own mothers
and sisters—just as Zeus had also married his sister, Hera. After Ninos,
his wife, Semiramis, reigned over the Assyrians. It was she who had the
mounds built to prevent flooding. At the same time, the sixteenth dynasty
ruled in Egypt, during which the Thebans possessed the power. 5 At the
age of seventy Tharra begot Abraham by his wife Edna, the daughter of his
paternal uncle, Abraham. 1 Abraham’s mother named him after her father,
who had died before Abraham’s birth. Tharra also begot Arran and Nachor.
Abraham receives Sarah as his wife from his father. Abraham was the only
one anywhere to recognise the true God, whereas everyone else suffered
under the deception of the idols. Arran also received a wife, and he got a
son, Lot, and a daughter, Melcham. Nachor takes Melcham as his wife.

33 Abraham was already in his sixtieth year and, since he did not
think that he would ever be able to persuade his father and the rest of the
household to abandon the superstition of the idols, at night, he secretly set
fire to the house with the idols. When these were beginning to be destroyed,
his brothers realised what was happening and jumped up from their beds,
and they tried (o extract the idols from the fire. 2 Arran engages with
particular zeal in the matter, and perishes in the fire, and his father buries
him in Ur, the city of the Chaldeans, and then moves with his complete
household to Harran in Mesopotamia. 3 Having lived there together with
his father for fifteen years, one night, Abraham considers predicting the
coming time from the movement of the stars. For he had been well trained
by his father in all science of this kind. Yet, having thought about every
aspect of the matter, he comes to the conclusion that all this searching
is in vain. For, he thought, God could, if He wanted to, change His prior
decisions at will. 4 Having renounced all such matters out of a complete
conviction, Abraham, who had given perfect proof of his piety with regard
to the divine, hears a voice from God, saying: ‘Leave your country and the
house of your father.’ 2 And Abraham leaves together with his wife, Sarah,

1 Or: ‘Abram.’

2 Genesis 12.1.

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and his nephew, Lot, and he moves to the portion belonging to his father,
Arphaxad, which the Canaanites had occupied and renamed Canaan.
Abraham was seventy-five years of age at that time. 5 The following is
the total of years up to Abraham’s migration: the division of the earth
took place in the beginning of the days of Phalek. From the division of
the earth, there are 616 years; from the flood, there are 1,015 years; from
Adam, there are 3,277 years. 1 6 Having lived in the land of the Canaanites
for twenty-five years after his departure, Abraham begets Isaac. Before
Isaac, Ishmael is born to Abraham from Hagar; from Ishmael stems
the Ishmaelite tribe (these are the same as the Hagarenes, who are also
called Saracens). 7 At this time, God lets fire rain over Pentapolis, and He
destroys all mankind there. He also lays waste all this stretch of land, and
the waters of the adjacent sea are deprived of all life. 8 Shortly afterwards,
Abraham moves from the Oak of Mamre to the Well of the Oath and,
having set up tents for himself privately and for the members of his clan
according to their family connections, he then for the first time celebrates
the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days. This festival is still celebrated by
Israel through the pitching of tents.

34 It is said that Isaac was twenty-five years of age when he was
brought to be sacrificed. 2 Abraham built the altar at the same spot where
later David founded the temple. At the age of sixty, Isaac begets Esau and
Jacob. 2 When Jacob was already in his seventy-fifth year, he flees from
Esau, his brother, and encounters Laban in Harran, in Mesopotamia.
Laban was the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob. 3 Jacob guards
Laban’s sheep for a total of twenty years. He receives Leah and Rachel,
Laban’s daughters, in marriage in return for fourteen years of service,
and an agreed salary for the remaining six years. Later, he receives
Bilhah and Zilpah, the maidservants, 3 as gifts from his wives and, during
the thirteen years he spent in Mesopotamia after the first seven years,
he begets children with the four women: eleven sons and one daughter.
From Leah, he gets Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar
and Zebulun and Dinah; from Rachel, he gets Joseph; from Bilhah, he
gets Dan and Naphthali; from Zilpah, he gets Gad and Asher. 4 In the

1 Cf. above. Chapter 25, § 5.

2 For the Sacrifice of Isaac see Genesis 22:1-19. Nothing is said in the Bible about Isaac’s
age, but he is obviously depicted as a child. That he was twenty-five years old (a claim here
introduced by ‘It is said,’ Greek (pt| a 0 is an Orthodox tradition.

3 ‘maidservants’ (jraifilcncaq): or ‘slave girls.' Greek forms of their names are BdXXa and

ZsX<p&.

twentieth year, Jacob fled from Laban, but he is apprehended by him on
the seventh day on Mount Galaad. 1 There they make an agreement under
oath and then depart from each other, Laban to Harran, and Jacob to
the city of Salem, close to Sikima. 2 5 This is where Dinah is raped by
Shechem. 3 Rachel bears one more son to Jacob, Benjamin, and on dying,
she is buried in the Ephratha region where Bethlehem is now. 4 Simeon
and Levi take revenge for the outrage suffered by their sister, and they kill
Shechem and his men by the use of every kind of guile. 5 6 Remembering
the vision he had seen on his arrival in Mesopotamia, Jacob goes up to
Bethel (this was the name of the place where he had gone to sleep and had
the vision), and he gives a tenth of all his possessions to God. Last of all,
he does the same with his sons and subjects them to the casting of lots
and, when Levi is chosen, Jacob dedicates him to God and makes him the
priest of God. Levi offers up his father’s tithe as the first sacrifice to God.
7 Now, since the Levitic tribe continues to Aaron and Moses, of whom the
one serves as high priest and the other as military commander to Israel,
it is reasonable to trace the lineage after Jacob through Levi. 8 When
Jacob was eighty-seven years old, he begot Levi. Rebecca demanded that
Isaac should bring Esau and Jacob and reconcile them to each other and
exhort them and make them swear that they will keep peace with each
other and cherish a disposition of brotherly love. This Isaac did, and he
forewarned Esau, that ‘if you rebel against Jacob, you will fall into his
hands.’ 9 Rebecca dies first, and Isaac shortly after. They had left the
privileges of primogeniture to Jacob. 10 Esau’s sons incited their father
against Jacob and his sons, and they armed themselves together with
Gentiles and went to war. But Jacob closed the city gates and entreated
Esau to remember the commandments and exhortations of their parents.
But Esau did not accept this, and he treated Jacob with derision, at which,
being asked by Judah to do so, Jacob stretched his bow tight and hit Esau
in the breast on the right side and struck him down. And, when Esau had
died in this way, the sons of Jacob opened the city gates and came out to
attack, killing almost everyone.

1 Or: ‘Gilead’: see Genesis 31:49.

2 Or: ‘Shechem.’ Septuagint Genesis 33.18 has ZaXf|p jtoXiv Eucipcov. It is an open
question whether the chronicler is thinking of a people or a place.

3 Or: ‘Sychem.’

4 On Rachel’s death, cf. Genesis 35:16-20.

5 Cf. Genesis 34.

38 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

35 In the second year of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt [it is said 1 that a
fearsome 2 sacred scribe 3 had predicted that a child born 4 to the Hebrews
in that year would dissolve the kingdom of the Egyptians; and for that
reason, the Pharaoh ordered that all children born to the Hebrews should
be killed], 5 2 Levi, who was forty-five years old, begets Kaath. At the age
of sixty-three years, Kaath begets Ambram. At the age of seventy years,
Ambram begets Moses. 3 Ambram, the father of Moses, so Scripture
tells, prayed to God not to allow the Hebrew people to be destroyed.
Also, he is said to have received a divine revelation in a dream about the
birth and the power of the child Moses. 4 When Moses had been born
and had been exposed, he was taken care of by Thermouthis, Pharaoh’s
daughter. The child was of such charming beauty that all who saw him
watched him in constant admiration. 5 From Abraham and Chettoura,
Jexan is born, and from Jexan, Dadam, and from Dadam, Ragouel
and Jothor, also called Jobab, and from Jothor, Sepphora whom Moses
married. As Demetrios tells, according to what Eusebios claims in the
Chronicle , 6 Moses is the seventh from Abraham and Sepphora the sixth.
At the age of eighty, Moses leads the exodus from Egypt after the 430
years of exile. 7

36 It should be noted that the 430 years of the people’s exile should be
counted until the return. 8 2 In his thirtieth year, Joseph is entrusted with
the power of the Egyptians. When seven years of plenty and two years
of famine had passed, Jacob came down with his children to Egypt. It is
said 9 that the Nile did not rise during all of the seven years of famine in
Egypt. Thus Joseph was thirty-nine years of age then, and he lived for
a total of 110 years. 3 After Joseph’s death, the Hebrews serve as slaves
to the Egyptians for 144 years. 4 The total of years of the exile in Egypt

1 Or: ‘Scripture says’ (cprjCTi).

2 Or: ‘powerful’ (8aiv6v).

3 ‘sacred scribe’ (iEpoypappatfa): i.e. a high-ranking Egyptian official.

4 Or rather: ‘the child bom’ (t 6 xuadpevov jicuSlov).

5 The text within square brackets is certainly a gloss incorporated into the text at a
secondary stage. The text before the brackets (‘In ... Egypt’) is continued by the text after
the brackets (‘Levi,’ etc.).

6 Eusebios’ Chronicle (or Chronographia) has been lost in the original Greek but was
used extensively by chronographers (cf. Introduction). Cf., however, in this case also the
Praeparatio Evangelica 9.29.1-3 (frg. of Demetrios, a Jewish chronicler of the third c. BC).

7 The text is problematic here and the translation hypothetical.

8 ‘return’ (dvdpaoiq): or ‘ascent.’

9 Or: ‘Scripture says’ (<pqoi).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 39

is therefore 215, 1 and it lasted from the departure from Harran until the
exodus towards the land of the Canaanites. 2 Moses is shown to have
organised this exodus in his eightieth year. For the [total] exile was not
only spent in Egypt, but also in the land of Canaan. This is also presented
to us by Scripture itself which says: ‘The sojourning of the sons of Israel,
which they spent in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, 430 years.’ 3
5 In Abraham’s days there was Melchizedek, a pious man, the son of
the king Sidos, son of Aegyptus. It was Melchizedek who founded the
city of Sidon. 6 And Abraham lived twenty-five years from the march
up from Harran until the birth of Isaac; and Isaac lived sixty years until
Jacob [was born]; and Jacob lived eighty-seven years until Levi (when
Levi was forty-three years of age, Jacob, being himself 130 years of age
then, went down with all his household to Egypt). Levi lived forty-five
years until Kaath, and Kaath lived sixty-three years until Abraham, 4
and Abraham lived seventy years until Moses, and Moses lived eighty
years before the exodus. 5 7 During this time Inachos ruled as first king of
Argos, and after these years, the people spend forty years in the desert.
Phoroneus ruled the Argives, and it is during his reign that the Greeks
say that the Ogygian flood took place. 6 And after their first king, Pikos,
who died in Crete and who at that time had been renamed Zeus, Ninos’
[wife] Semiramis became queen of the Assyrians. 7 8 On assuming the
leadership Joshua son of Nun 8 crosses the river Jordan and reigns over the
people for twenty-five years after Moses. He destroyed seven provinces
and dethroned twenty-nine kings. 9 Thus there are 2,263 years from
Adam until the flood, and from the flood to the division of the earth 399
years, and from the division until Abraham’s emigration 616 years, and
from the emigration until the death of Joshua son of Nun 495 years. In
sum, there are 3,774 9 years from Adam.

1 I.e. 110-39+144 = 215.

2 The text of this sentence is possibly corrupt and the translation therefore hypothetical.

3 Exodus 12.40.

4 I.e. Ambram (cf. above. Chapter 35, §§ 2-3).

5 Thus, a total of430 years are accounted for in this paragraph (25+60+87+45+63+70+80
= 430).

6 Ogyges was a mythical king of Attica during whose reign a great flood is said to have
taken place.

7 Cf. Chapter 28 for people mentioned here.

8 Or: ‘Jesus son of Naue.’

9 Strictly speaking, this gives 3,773 years (2,263+399+616+495 = 3,773). However, the
years from Adam until the flood should be 2,262, not 2,263.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

37 After Joshua, elders 1 from the tribes of Judah and Simeon in turn
are said to have ruled over the people for thirty years while favouring each
other’s parties. 2 2 After this, the people turn to idolatry and are delivered
into the hands of Chousarsasthon, 3 the king of Mesopotamia, who ruled
over them for eight years. It is said that Prometheus lived at this time. He
was a wise and well-educated man, and by this he formed mankind so as
to liberate them from their uncouthness. When now the people returned
to God, He elevates Gothoniel, who acted as the people’s judge for fifty
years. Gothoniel was the brother of Chaleb. 4 3 During these years, it is
said that the flood under Deucalion took place. 5 It seems that also the
Egyptians make reference to this, when they say that their country was not
flooded and that this flood was local only. The earlier flood 6 they do not
know about either, since their patriarch 7 8 had not been born yet. For Ham,
the son of Noah, was the father of Mesraeim® from whom the Egyptians
descend. 4 The sons of Israel sin again and are delivered into the hands
of Eglom, 9 the king of the Moabites, and they serve him as slaves for
eighteen years. When they once again return to God, they are saved
through Aod the Ambidextrous (he received the nickname Ambidextrous
since he was able to use his left hand with the same skill as his right in
every matter). He led the people for eighty years. In the twenty-seventh
year of his reign, Cecrops Diphyes became king of Attica (he was so
called because he spoke two languages 10 ). In the seventy-seventh year, the
flood in Thessaly 11 and in Ethiopia is recorded by them. 12 5 The people sin

1 Greek Ttpsapuxepoi, later on a term for a person of influence, and with office, within
the Church (cf. Index of terms and concepts).

2 ‘favouring ... parties’ (rotq &Xkf\\(ov ayotviapaaiv dvd pdpo? PoiiOoOvtec): this is
vague, oxoivuipa may refer either to a portion of a people or a piece of land.

3 Or: ‘Chousarsathaim.’

4 Or: ‘Caleb.’

5 Cf. the Ogygian flood (above. Chapter 36, § 7) and, of course, that of Noah.

6 I.e. that of Noah (see above. Chapter 25).

7 ‘patriarch’: or ‘chief of kin’ or ‘ancestor.’

8 Or: ‘Mizraim.’

9 Or: ‘Eglon.’

10 Literally ‘with two tongues.’ Cecrops was the mythical founder of Athens. ‘Diphyes’
means ‘of two natures’ and is in other accounts interpreted as referring to his body, with a
human head and torso, and a fish-tail or snake below.

11 The flood associated with Deucalion (see above, § 3) is also located in Thessaly, and
perhaps this is a reference to the same event.

12 ‘them’: presumably in reference to Greek pagan tradition.

again and come, for twenty years, under the power of Jabe, the king of the
Canaanites. During his reign Deborah, the wife of Laphidoth, 1 of the tribe
of Ephraim, acts as prophetess. By her agency, Barak, son of Abithem
from the tribe of Naphthali, came to lead the people for forty years. During
this time Cadmus became king in Thebes. It was he who brought Tiresias,
the philosopher and seer, to Thebes. It is about Tiresias that Sophocles
says that ‘having seen Pallas bathing, Tiresias was changed from being
a man into a woman by nature.’ 2 6 After Deborah’s death, the people
sinned again, and they are enslaved to the Midianites for seven years.
But by divine signs Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, gains a belief in
victory, and he organises a rebellion and, having slaughtered 120,000 men
with the help of 300, he ruled the people for forty years; and Abimelech,
his son, ruled for three years; and Thola, son of Phoua, from the tribe of
Ephraim, ruled for twenty-three years; and Jaeir the Galaadite, from the
tribe of Manasseh, ruled for twenty-two years. 7 After him, the people
sinned and were delivered into the hands of the Ammonites for eighteen
years. Then they return to God, and He saves them through Jephtha the
Galaadite, born from a mother of different origin but belonging himself
to the tribe of Manasses. Jephtha rules the people for six years. 8 After
him, Esebon, of the tribe of Judah, from Bethlehem, ruled for seven years.
During this time, Ilium was built, and Asclepius pursued the science of
medicine. 9 Eglom the Zaboulonite acted as the judge of Israel for ten
years, and Abdon the Marathonite, 3 son of Eleim, for eight years. During
this time, Orpheus, the poet, became famous. 10 Having sinned again, the
people are delivered into the hands of foreigners for forty years. When
they have returned to God, He elevates Samson. Samson was the son of
Manoe and of the tribe of Dan. He, having defeated the foreigners, rules
for twenty years. During this time Herakles, who accomplished the twelve
labours, became famous. 11 For 4 Samanei led the people for one year and,
according to Hebrew tradition, there was anarchy and everyone did what
he wanted to, as is wont to happen during anarchy. The people had forty

1 Or: ‘Lapidoth.’

2 Variations of this (which is not known from any of Sophocles’ preserved plays) are told
in several Byzantine sources, e.g. Eustathios’ Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 1.390.6-7
(who attributes it to Kallimachos); see also Malalas (see Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott et al. 1986,

p. 20).

3 Or: ‘Labdon the Pharathonite/Phraathonite’ (Septuagint Judges 12.14: Ad[t6(ov 6
®paa0covfrr|p).

4 ‘For’ (Greek ■ydp): this is not clear.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

years of peace with the foreigners, and Samanei 1 led them during thirty
of these years. 12 The high priest Eli ruled the people for twenty years.
During this time, the Trojan war was fought for ten years, and Ilium was
captured. 13 Samuel succeeded Eli as high priest and leader, and he takes
control over the people. It is said that he was twelve years of age when God
first appeared to him and talked to him. During this time 2 the ark stood
in the house of Aminadam. And Eli was responsible for the anointing of
kings for seventy years. 14 There are 610 years from the death of Joshua
until the death of Samuel, 2,120 years from Noah and the flood, and 4,382
years from Adam. 3

38 When Samuel had himself already grown old and only reluctantly
acted as the overseer of the people, and when his children were continually
compromising with the rule of law by accepting gifts, he anoints as king
Saul, son of Kis, from the tribe of Benjamin. He did this under compulsion
from the people and with God’s consent. 2 For Saul and his boy, 4 who
were looking for their donkeys, went in to Samuel, and Samuel told Saul
about the kingship and what he sought. And Saul went out to his relative
and friend and told him all of this except about the kingship, indicating by
this that one should not trust friends nor relatives 5 when it comes to great
matters, because of the ease with which one becomes the victim of human
malignity. 3 This Saul reigns for twenty years with the support of Samuel,
and twenty years on his own. During his 6 reign, Samuel acted as a prophet
as well as a high priest, and Abener, the son of Ner, led the military forces
for him.

39 Since Saul had offended God, Samuel anoints a new king, David, son
of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah. And Samuel dies two years before Saul.
David reigns for seven years while Saul is still alive, and for thirty-three
years after Saul’s death. 2 During his reign Abiathar, son of Abimelech,

1 Presumably, this is not the same man as the one mentioned at the beginning of the
paragraph.

2 ‘During this time’: the text is problematic and the translation uncertain.

3 Here, too, the calculation is almost correct: adding 610 to the previous 3,774 (see
Chapter 36, § 9) we should arrive at 4,384 and, adding 2,262 years (cf. here, too, Chapter 36,
§ 9, in which the text has 2,263 years) to 2,120, we arrive at 4,382.

4 I.e. ‘servant’ (itaiSa). In our chronicle, a long biblical story is abbreviated and separate
episodes conflated (see 1 Sam. 9-10:). The ‘relative and friend’ mentioned in the chronicle
(see the following), who appears rather suddenly to the reader, is the one referred to in 1 Sam.
10.14.

5 ‘one ... relatives’: this is slightly reminiscent of Jeremiah 9.4.

6 Presumably Saul.

held the office of high priest; he was related to Eli, but from another family, 1
namely that of Sadok. David himself, Gad, Nathan, Asaf and Idithoum
acted as prophets, and Joab was David’s military commander. 3 Forty years
of Saul should be counted in the overall chronology, and forty years of
David, since, as has been said, David reigned seven of his years while Saul
was still alive. 4 It is said that, because of the marriage to Melchol, Saul
asked for and received from David not a hundred foreskins, but 600 heads
of foreign men. 2 5 During his reign Joab, the commander of the military
forces, made a census of Israel’s tribes, and he arrived at a number of
1,100,000; the sons of Judah were 470,000. 3 But he did not count the tribes
of Levi and Benjamin. Because of this, 70,000 fell out of the people. 4 6 It
is said that David composed an immeasurable number of songs and hymns
to God, to be performed with many kinds of musical instruments. It is also
said that Solomon buried a lot of gold together with David. The Hebrew
kings of different times used, when they were besieged, to open his grave
and to take gold to the amount of many talents. 5 But no one laid hands on
the coffins of the kings, for these had been hidden by Solomon and could
not be found.

40 Solomon, the son of David, succeeded his father and reigned for
forty years. 2 He, having laid the foundation of God’s temple in the fourth
year of his reign, and having worked upon it over a period of seven years,
dedicates it in the eleventh year of his reign. 3 Under Solomon, Sadok
was high priest, and Nathan, who also had encouraged him to build the
temple, acted as prophet together with Achiam the Silonite, and Sameas,
son of Salame, and Addo; and the armed forces are entrusted to Baneas,
son of Jodae. 4 From such a multitude of wives Solomon had only one
son, Rehoboam. 6 5 Solomon laid down many works in writing, and he also
contrived many incantations and oaths to exorcise demons. 7 Some Jews

1 ‘family’: Greek tot pia;.

2 On the foreskins see 1 Sam. 18.25-27. The version with the 600 heads is known from
Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 6.10.3.

3 Cf. 1 Chr. 21.5-6.

4 I.e. because of the apparently sinful act of organising a census David was punished,
and 70,000 people had to die.

5 See Chapter 48, § 4, with note.

6 Or: ‘Roboam.’

7 The material of this paragraph belongs to the tradition of the Testament of Solomon
and, as far as its use in Byzantine chronicles is concerned, it would seem to be derived from
Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 8.2.5.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

used these and, according to the instructions of Solomon, they put a ring
with a seal together with a root in the nose of the sufferer, in order that the
demon should smell this and be drawn out. And they used a glass full of
water or some other kind of vessel as a sign of this; for on escaping the
demon always crushed this. 6 During this time Homer became famous, as
well as Hesiod.

41 Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigns for eighteen years. During his
reign the entire people is divided into two groups, and the tribe of Judah
remains with him as well as that of Benjamin, whereas the remaining ten
tribes appointed as their king Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, from the tribe of
Ephraim, a man who belonged to the household of Solomon. 2 Rehoboam’s
palace was situated in Jerusalem, and the population under his rule was
called Judah, and the house [was called] David, taking its name from the
most powerful tribe. 3 Jeroboam’s main city was Samaria, and his palace
was in Thersa, and there were two altars, one in Bethel (for he places one
of the calves there), and the other in Samaria, in the tribe of Dan (for he
had the other calf consecrated there 1 ). The name of his people was Israel,
because of its quantity, and Ephraim, because of the tribe to which the
king belonged. 4 During this time Sameas, the son of Salame, still acted
as prophet, as did also the man who had come from Judah to Samaria and
prophesied to Jeroboam in front of the altar. 2 Having transgressed God’s
command, this man was killed by a lion who happened to encounter him
on the road as he travelled back home.

42 Abia takes over the rule after his father and reigns for three years.
2 After him, his son, Asa, reigns for forty-one years. When he was already
old, he was struck by arthritis in the feet. During his reign Ananias 3 acts
as prophet. 3 After him, his son, Josaphat, reigns for twenty-five years.
During his reign Micah, 4 the son of Jembla, acted as prophet as well as
Abdioum, the son of Ananias, and Eleazar and Ananias. There was also
the false prophet Sedekias, the son of Canaan. 5 During this time Elijah also
acted as prophet in Israel, and after him, Elisha. 4 Having succeeded his
father, Josaphat, Joram 6 reigns for eight years. He was a man who surpassed
most with regard to impiety. He was the son-in-law of Ahab, the king of

1 Cf. 1 Kgs 12.26-30.

2 For this unnamed prophet see 1 Kgs 13.

3 Or: ‘Hananiah.’

4 Or: ‘Michaias’ (ofMoresheth).

5 Or: ‘Zedekiah son of Chenaanah.’

6 Or: ‘Jehoram.’

the Israelites, and he also came to be an admirer of his way of life. There
were the same prophets during his reign, and Jodae served as high priest.
5 Ochozias, 1 having succeeded him, reigns for one year. He was killed by
Jehu, the king of Israel, when he annihilated Ahab’s kin. 2 6 After him,
Gotholia, 3 daughter of Zambre, the king of the Israelites, wife of Joram, and
mother of Ochozias, reigns over Jerusalem for eight years. Being the most
impious of women, she, in an act of vengeance against Ahab, the king of the
Israelites, destroys all of Ochozias’ children. For, Ochozias seemed to be
of Ahab’s kin. 4 But Josabed, the sister of Ozias, the wife of the high priest
Jodae, having stolen away Joas, the son of Ochozias, still an infant, brings
him up. 5 During her [Gotholia’s] reign Jodae served as high priest, and his
son Zacharias acted as prophet. 7 When Joas, 6 the son of Ochozias, was
eight years old, the high priest, Jodae, anointed him and proclaimed him
king. This he did after having killed GotholiaLHaving been pious at the
beginning, Joas tears down all idols except those in high places. 8 During his
reign the high priest Jodae died after having lived for 130 years. It should be
noted that he seems to be the only person after Moses to have lived for such
a long time. Towards the end of his life Joas starts to worship the idols, and
he had Zacharias, the son of Jodae, who accused him of erring, killed by
stoning. 9 Joas reigns for forty years. 8 His son Amesias succeeds him and
reigns for twenty-nine years. During his reign the Cumaean Sibyl became
famous. 9 Ozias, 10 also named Zacharias, the son of Amesias, reigned for
fifty-two years; he was a pious man. But later he tried to enter the holy
places 11 and was struck with leprosy, and his son had to act as judge in
his stead. During his reign Azarias was high priest. Amos and Isaiah, his
son, acted as prophets, as did also Hosea 12 the son of Bekrei 13 and Jonas the

1 Or: ‘Ahaziah.’

2 Cf. 2 Chron. 22; 2 Kgs 9.14-29.

3 Or: ‘Athaliah.’

4 I.e. because of the true or believed relationship of Ochozias to Ahab, Gotholia had
Ochozias’ children, her own grandchildren, killed.

5 Cf 2 Chron 22.10-12; 2 Kgs 11.1-3.

6 Or: ‘Joash’/’Jehoash.’

7 Cf 2 Kgs 11.4-16; 2 Chron 23.1-11.

8 Cf 2 Kgs 12.1-3.

9 Cf 2 Chron 24.17-21.

10 Or: ‘Uzziah.’

11 Cf 2 Chron 15.1-7; 26.16-21.

12 Or: ‘Osee.’

13 Or: ‘son of Beeri’ (cf. Hosea 1.1).

46 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

son of Amathei, from Gopher. At this time, Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian
issued his laws. 10 Joatham, the son of Ozias, reigned for sixteen years
after the death of his father. And during his reign Elijah, Hosea, Micah 1
the Morathite, 2 and Joel, the son of Bathouel, 3 acted as prophets. 11 After
him, his son Ahaz reigned for sixteen years. Also during his reign Isaiah,
Hosea, and Micah acted as prophets, and Uriah 4 was high priest. 5 In the
first year of his reign Iphitos established the celebration of the Olympic
Games. In the same first Olympiad, Romos 6 and Romulus were born, and
in the seventh Olympiad they started to build Rome. From Romulus and the
consuls they ended with Julius Caesar, having had monarchy for 245 years. 7
12 Hezekiah, 8 a most pious man, having succeeded his father Ahaz, reigns
for twenty-nine years. During his reign Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah still
acted as prophets. During his reign Salmanasar, the king of the Assyrians,
moved the inhabitants of Samaria to Media and Babylonia to be kept under
surveillance; their king at this time was the prophet Hosea. 9 This was in
the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah. Since the people made offerings to
it, Hezekiah tore down the snake that Moses had hung up. 10 He also erased
the inscription of Solomon’s book of remedies to all kinds of illnesses.
At this time, Thales the Milesian died in Tenedos, and the Erythraean
Sibyl became famous. 13 Manasses, 11 the son of Hezekiah, reigned for
fifty-five years. He was a most abominable man who worshipped the idols
no less than the Canaanites did. It is said, however, that he lived piously
towards the end of his life. During his reign the prophet Isaiah departed
from life. At this time Romulus was cut to pieces in the Senate house and
carried out. This was in the sixteenth Olympiad, when he had reigned for

1 Or: ‘Michaias.’

2 Or:‘ofMoresheth’(cf. Micah 1.1).

3 Or: ‘Joel, son of Pethuel’ (or ‘Bethuel,’ cf. Joel 1.1).

4 Or: ‘Ourias.’

5 Cf. 2 Kgs 16.10-16.

6 I.e. ‘Remus.’

7 This sentence is obscure and possibly corrupt. It is, of course, more or less correct to
calculate the duration of the monarchy in Rome as 245 years (753-509), and a lack of interest
in the Republic is typical of Byzantine chronicles. However, the way in which it manifests
itself here is odd.

8 Or: ‘Ezekias.’

9 This is an error in the tradition of the Logothete: this king is not identical with the
prophet (see 2 Kgs 17.1).

10 Cf. 2 Kgs 18.4.

11 Or: Manasseh.

, THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 47

thirty-eight years. 1 14 Amos, 2 the son of Manasses, having succeeded
his father, reigns for two years. At this time Midas, the king of Phrygia,
died. It was said at the time that he had donkey’s ears. 15 Josias, having
succeeded his father Amos, takes over the rule at the age of eight, and he
rules for thirty-one years. In the eighteenth year of his rule the high priest
Chelkias finds a book in the temple (Chelkias was the father of Jeremiah,
the prophet) and brings it to the king. He (for he was pious) was at the
time celebrating Passover for the Lord, a celebration which had not taken
place since the time of Joshua son of Nun. Also, he collected the bones
of those who had died in a state of impiety and had them burnt on the
altars of the idols, and he destroyed everything [of this kind] and gave by
this an example of piety to the people. It is said that Chelkias died at once
after having read the book. During the reign of Josias, Jeremiah, the son
of Chelkias, and Sophonias and Heliba, 3 the wife of Seleim, keeper of the
high priest’s wardrobe, acted as prophets. There was also the false prophet
Ananias. During this time the Sibyl in Samos became famous, and people
from Megara founded Byzantium. 16 Joachas, the son of Josias, having
succeeded his father, reigns for three months. Nechao, the king of Egypt,
having attacked Jerusalem with an army and seized Joachas, brings him
as a prisoner to Egypt, and appoints Joakeim, also known as Eliakeim,
king over Jerusalem in his stead. 17 [Eliakeim], the brother of Joachas, 4
having succeeded to the throne, reigns for eleven years. During his reign
Nebuchadnezzar, having set out from Babylon, takes control of all of the
Egyptian land. By this, he deprived the Egyptians of the possession of the
neighbouring regions, that is, the land from the Egyptian river valley as far
as the river Euphrates. And he made the whole of Judaea liable to pay taxes
to him, and Joakeim came to serve as a slave to Nebuchadnezzar for three
years. During his 5 reign Jeremiah, Bouzi and Uriah, the son of Sameas,
act as prophets; when Uriah flees to Egypt, he is apprehended by Joakeim
and put to death. Nebuchadnezzar bound this Joakeim in fetters of copper

1 This is in line with conventional dates, according to which Romulus reigned 753-717.
However, putting the first Olympic games at the conventional date of 776, the year 717 falls
rather within the 15th Olympiad (776-15x4 = 716).

2 Or: ‘Amon.’

3 Or: ‘Olda.’

4 Eliakeim (i.e. Joakeim) in brackets has been added by me. The textual problem no
doubt arose from the confusing fact that two different Eliakeims are mentioned so close to
each other.

5 Presumably Joakeim (Eliakeim).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

and brought him to Babylon, and Daniel, Ananias, Misael and Azarias
went together with him as prisoners. During this time Epidamnos was
founded, later renamed Dyrrhachium. 18 Joakeim, also called Jechonias,
having succeeded his father Eliakeim, also called Joakeim, reigns for three
months. When Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem in the eighth year of
his reign, 1 Joakeim secretly leaves the city together with his mother Estha
and all his kin, but falls into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. The latter razes
the city to the ground and also abducts these people as prisoners together
with many others. Among the ones abducted was also the prophet Jezekiel.
19 He 2 appoints his 3 uncle Manthanias leader of the others instead of him,
and he renames him 4 Sedekias, having received oaths from him in the name
of God that he will not secede. 20 There are a total of 144 years from the
first year of Ahaz and the first Olympiad until this deportation; and 406
years from Saul, the first king of the Hebrews; and 1,100 years from the
death of Joshua son of Nun; and 2,610 years from Noah and the flood; and
4,872 years from Adam. 5

43 While keeping to the chronological scheme with help of the dynasty
of David’s descendants, I do not consider it out of place, as an excursus, to
go over the dates of the rulers of Samaria. 2 On the death of King Solomon
his son Rehoboam ascends to Sikima (for the people had gathered there), in
order to be made king by them. 3 But when he was about to be anointed, the
people came forward to him and begged him to be relieved from the many
tax duties that his father Solomon had exacted from them. Having been
accorded three days to think the matter over and to give a proper answer,
and having been told by the elders that he should relieve the people, but by
members of his own generation that he should burden them even more, he
trusts to the latter and, on the third day, he gives the advice of the younger
people as his answer. 4 At this, the people retreat and bid farewell to his

1 Presumably in the eighth year of Joakeim’s reign.

2 Nebuchadnezzar, according to the story as told in 2 Kgs 24.17.

3 This is vaguely put but refers to Joakeim’s uncle.

4 I.e. Manthanias.

5 This calculation presents some problems. If we subtract 144 from 776 (employing 776
as starting date for the first Olympiad) we arrive at 632 BC, which is not in keeping with
the conventional date of 597 for the Babylonian captivity. On the other hand, to place the
Babylonian captivity at 632 BC or thereabouts is reasonable if the years from Adam until
this point are believed to be 4,872: we so arrive at 5,504 years from Adam until the birth of
Christ. Calculating in yet another way: 144 years is a fairly plausible calculation of the time
between Ahaz (possibly co-regent from 736/5 and sole ruler from 732/1) and the actual date
of the Babylonian captivity.

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rule. And ten of the tribes appoint Jeroboam as their king. He was the son
of Nabat and Sarira, a second wife, 1 and he came from the tribe of Ephraim.
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin stay with Rehoboam. Thus, as has been
explained above, the people were divided at that time, and each part of the
people acquired a name and a place for a royal palace of their own.

44 Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, reigns in Samaria for twenty-two
years. During his reign the Silonite 2 acts as prophet. During his time,
Sousakeim, the Egyptian, having attacked Jerusalem, takes away all the
treasures of the temple as well as those belonging Jo their king Rehoboam.
2 Nabat, having succeeded Jeroboam, reigns for years. 3 Baasa, the
son of Achiam, having killed Nabat, reigns in Sam am for twenty-four
years. During his reign Jous, the son of Ananias, acts as prophet. 4 Having
succeeded his father, Baasa, Ila reigns for two years. 5 Zambre, to whom
the command over the chariots has been entrusted by Ila, kills Ila and,
having destroyed all his household, reigns for seven months. 6 Zambre,
the commander of the military forces, rebels against Zambre, the king.
Just as many thought that he was achieving complete victory, Zambre [the
king] set fire to his belongings and perished with them. Then Israel was
in a state of turmoil with regard to who should be their king, and some
favoured Zambre, while some favoured Thamne, the son of Gonath. The
supporters of Zambre were the ones to prevail, and he reigns over Samaria
for twelve years. 7 Ahab, having succeeded his father Zambre, reigns for
twenty-two years. His wife Jezebel (she was the daughter of Eisbaal, the
king of the Sidoniaps) deceived him and made him disgrace himself and
act impiously. Micah, the prophet, put a strap round his head and criticised
Ahab because of Ader. At this time it happened that Jericho was founded.
It is Achar from Bethel who founds this city, and he lost his first-born
son Abeiron when the foundations were laid (this happened according to
the prophecy of Joshua), and his younger son Segour when the city was
completed. During his reign Elijah and Abdiou act as prophets. Abdiou
lived in constant hiding, and he also kept the other prophets hidden; this
he did for fear of Jezebel’s plotting. Towards the end 3 Elijah anoints Elisha
as prophet. Micah still acted as prophet at that time. 8 Ochozias, having

1 ‘a second wife’: perhaps there is a textual problem and we should read ‘a woman who
was a widow’ (the Greek text’s yovaiKbi; frrSpcu; should then be changed into yvvaiKbc; xrjpcu;,
cf. Regn. III.11.26).

2 I.e. Achiam, see above, Chapter 40, § 3.

3 I.e. of his life on earth.

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succeeded his father Ahab, reigned for two years. Also during his reign
Elijah and Elisha act as prophets. 9 Joran, the brother of Ochozias, having
succeeded him on the throne, reigns for twelve years. During his reign
Elijah was lifted up from the earth. During his reign the people of that
region were struck by famine, and they slaughtered their own children
and tasted the flesh and ate it, dipping it in dove dung instead of salt.
10 Jous, the son of Saphat, 1 son ofNamese, 2 was anointed king of Samaria
by Elisha, and he punished all the household of Ahaab. He kills the king
Joran himself by an arrow, having found him when he was attending to
his wounds. He disposes of Joran’s mother Jezebel and Ahaab’s seventy
sons by pushing them off a cliff, and he puts up their heads at the main
streets. 3 He then gathered all the prophets of Baal and the priests and
the people 4 and, feigning that they were to make a public sacrifice, he
has all of them killed and razes the sanctuary of the idol to the ground
and builds a public toilet 5 there. He reigned for twenty-eight years. Also
during his reign Elisha acted as prophet. 11 Joachas succeeds his father
Jous and reigns for seventeen years. Also during his reign Elisha acted
as prophet; he then died. 12 After him Joas, the son of Jachaz, reigns
for sixteen years. 13 Jeroboam, having succeeded his father Joas, reigned
for forty-one years. During his reign Jonas and Amos acted as prophets.

14 Zacharias succeeded his father Jeroboam and reigned for six months.

15 Seloum killed Zacharias and reigned for one month. 16 Manaeim,
the son of Gades, rebelled against Seloum and reigned for ten years. He
apprehends those in Thersa who did not accept him as king, and he kills
them and dismembers their pregnant women. 17 Phalkias, the son of
Manaeim, succeeded his father and reigned for two years. 18 Phakee, the
son of Romelios, killed Phalkias and reigned for twenty years. During
his reign Theglaphalasar, the king of the Assyrians, having marched into
Judaea, seizes the greater part of their land. 19 After Phakee, Osee, the
son of Ila, reigns for nine years. During his reign Salmanasar, the king
of the Assyrians, having attacked Samaria, carries away the king as a
prisoner and all of Israel with him, and he settles them in Alae and Abor
(these are Median cities) and at the river Gozan. There they are maltreated

1 Read: ‘Josaphat’ (Jehoshaphat).

2 Or: ‘Nimshi.’

3 Or: ‘city gates’ ( 8 isi; 6 Sou<;).

4 Sppoix;.

5 Xtkpcflpa.

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and pay the price for their transgressions of God’s commands. But the
Assyrian, having sent Babylonian men to Samaria—men who had lived
shamefully and been breaking the laws—ordered them to settle there.
God destroyed these men by sending lions against them. On learning this
and understanding that in that country it was necessary for service to God
to be fulfilled, the barbarian sent one of the priests there and ordered him
to conduct the lawful rites. This priest stayed in Bethel and taught the
law to the people and how to honour God. And so it happened that from
this time the country had peace from lions. These people, are still called
Samaritans from the region in which they live, and 1 they\re of strange
habits. Because of their emphasis on the teaching of the law 2 they lay little
stress on piety. They have not even found it fit to accept more than the
Decalogue. 20 Here the times of the Israelitic kingdom ended after 303
years and seven months, starting with Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and
ending with Osee, the son of Ila, and the removal of Israel from Samaria
to Media by Salmanasar. And the rule of David’s kin flourished. 3 This
took its beginning from the tenth [year] of Saul’s reign and ended with that
Joakeim who reigned for three months. And having ravaged the people of
Judah, he 4 removed them to Babylon.

45 How the Seventy Years of the Captivity Are Counted

It is appropriate no\y to treat summarily the leaders during the seventy years
of the captivity. Up to the time of this last Joakeim, there are a total of 4,872
years from Adam. 5 We should therefore now count the following years 6
from the first year of Sedekias. 2 When Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed
Jerusalem and taken away Joakeim together with the others to Babylon, he
appointed Joakeim’s brother, Manthanias, king of the remaining population,
and he renamed him Sedekias. And he allowed him to live in peace in his
home country as long as he paid a yearly tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. 3 For
nine years Sedekias sent the tax money, and Israel lived in peace. But in that

1 ‘and they are’: Greek 816 Kal, etc., which would rather seem to mean ‘and therefore
they are also, etc.’

2 ‘Because ... law’: this is a free translation of Si it Se tf| v xou vopou StSaoKdXiav.

3 The Greek is somewhat uncertain here.

4 I.e. Nebuchadnezzar.

5 Cf. above. Chapter 42, § 20.

6 I.e. when making the chronology of subsequent world history.

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year Sedekias rebelled, and with great arrogance he disregarded God and
the king and so provokes another attack on Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
4 Nebuchadnezzar besieges the city and takes control of it in the second year
and burns the temple. He killed Sedekias’ children in front of their father.
Then, having blinded and put him in fetters, he takes him away to Babylon
together with all the people. Then he made Gotholias, the son of Achikan,
the leader of the remaining. 5 But the powerful of those who were left there
abandon Gotholias and then kill him and, out of fear of the Chaldeans, leave
the country and go to Egypt. After a short time there they are corrupted
and become zealous followers of the Egyptian superstition. 6 Sedekias is
removed after a total reign of eleven years. During these, 1 Areas was high
priest, and Jeremiah acted as prophet in Judaea, and Daniel in Babylon. In
the second year of the exile and the reign of Sedekias, Daniel interpreted
the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and announced its meaning. Jezekiel acted 2
as prophet in their fifth year. Thereafter, Naum acts as prophet as well
as Malachias. 7 When Sedekias had died in Babylon, i.e. after the eleven
years of Sedekias’ reign, those who were subjected 3 reigned for the rest
of the seventy years. 8 This Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem three
times. For the first time, when he came up in the third year of Eliakeim and
seized that man Jechonias and his mother and the prophet Jezekiel and all
the rest; this was in the first year of his reign. For the second time, when
he came up in the third month of the reign of Jechonias, the one also called
Joakeim, and took, among others, Daniel, Ananias, Misael and Azarias
back with him; this was in the eighth year of his reign. For the third time,
when he came up in the eleventh year of Sedekias and burnt the temple and
blinded Sedekias and slaughtered his sons together with other people and
carried off the rest of the people in captivity; this was in the nineteenth year
of his reign. 9 In addition to the nineteen years which he had reigned so
far, Nebuchadnezzar reigns for another twenty-five years. During his reign
the afore-mentioned Daniel and Jezekiel acted as prophets. 10 Marodach,
his son, having succeeded him, reigns for twelve years. 11 Marodach’s
brother Baltasar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, reigned for four years. Also
during his reign Daniel acts as prophet, and the vision, which he saw when
he was dining and drinking from the liturgical vessels, is explained to

1 ‘During these’ (ii t' amove,): probably wrong for ‘during him’ (in' aiirou).

2 Or: ‘began to act.’

3 ‘those ... subjected’ (oi (moTsrayndvoi): this is vague (perhaps ‘subjected to foreign

rule’).

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him. In the following night Darius, the son of Asuerus, 1 killed Baltasar in
accordance with the interpretation of the vision and achieved control of the
state. 12 The said Darius, the son of Asuerus, who was called Astyages, 2
reigned for seventeen years. During his reign, Daniel is thrown into the
lions’ den. Having not suffered any harm from the lions, he is raised up
by the king on the seventh day. 3 He then understands the significance of
the seventy years of the exile, and the mystery of the weeks 4 is revealed
to him. 13 And if someone should wish to study the matter of the weeks
carefully and count the years through, he should start at the beginning of
the return, 5 as described by the prophet, 6 and the rebuilding of Jerusalem,
that is from Nehemiah, the son of Achele, chief cupbearer of Artaxerxes.
It was he who asked for and received permission to go up to Jerusalem and
rebuild it. Whoever studies this, will find that the seventy periods of seven,
that is the 490 years, are completed at the time when the transgression is
cancelled out, and the sin is brought to an end, and the vision is sealed and
the prophets, 7 and the Holy of Holies is anointed—that is, at the coming of
Christ and what follows.

46 Having ousted the Medes and Assyrians from power and having
seized the whole of Asia, Cyrus the Persian reigned for thirty-one
years. 2 In his first year the seventy years of the exile are fulfilled. In
the following year he allows the powerful among the Hebrews to go up
to Jerusalem and settle there, and he ordered that the temple should be
rebuilt. Jesus, the son of Josedek, who was high priest, led the return
together with Zorobabel, Jhe son of Salathiel, and Angaios and Zechariah,
son of Addo, acted as prophets. 3 When Jesus and his men had laid the
foundations of the temple, they were prevented for as much as forty-two
years from finishing the work. This went on until, in the second year
of his reign, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, makes the completion of
the temple possible by sending away those who hinder the project. It is

1 I.e. Ahasuenis.

2 I.e. Darius was called Astyages.

3 Greek £p5opato<;: according to Daniel, Chapter 6, he only had to spend the night with
the lions.

4 Or: ‘periods of seven’ (6pSopd8Ei;). The following section is alluding to the vision in
Daniel, Chapter 9.

5 ‘return, etc.’ (4§65ou Xdyou): the text is obscure at this point.

6 See Nehemiah, Chapter 2.

7 ‘prophets’ (i.e. npocpfjrcn: so pseudo-Julius Pollux, for which see Introduction): the
Greek of our chronicle (irpocptirehei, i.e. ‘he prophecies’?) cannot be correct.

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then finished after four more years. Thus it took in all forty-six years
for it to be completed. This is made clear by the following. 4 Cambyses,
also called Artaxerxes (he is the one called Arthasastha in Esdras),
succeeded his father Cyrus and reigned for eight years. 5 Sphendatis
and Kimerdios, who were magi of Median descent, attack him and then
reign for seven months. 6 Darius, who was a descendant of Cyrus and the
son of Hystaspes, attacked the magi and gained power and reigned for
six years up to the completion of [the temple of] 1 Jerusalem and another
thirty years in addition to these, so that he reigned in all for thirty-six
years. In this time Pythagoras the philosopher died, and Hippocrates the
physician became famous. 7 Xerxes, the son of Darius, reigned for twenty
years. 8 Artabanus reigned for seven months. 9 Artaxerxes, the son of
Xerxes, Makrocheir (he too is called Arthasastha in Esdras), reigned
for forty-one years. During his reign the events concerning Esther and
Mardochaios and Amman took place; it was also during this time that
Esdras acted as prophet. With the approval of Artaxerxes the high priest
Esdras brought back the rest of the Jews to Jerusalem and taught them the
law. And Nehemiah, Artaxerxes’ chief cupbearer and a man of a family
of high priests, asks the king for permission and so goes up to Judaea and
Jerusalem. 2 He builds a wall around Jerusalem to protect it from attack,
and he surrounds the construction workers with arms. 3 And together with
Esdras he taught the people the Law of Moses, and he removed them from
all elements of a Greek pagan education. And the city was built on a large
scale and with a wall.

10 From Where the Seventy Weeks in Daniel Are Counted 4

In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes’ reign—from that point they say that
one should count the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel’s vision, up to
the coming of the Lord and the following events. For it is evident that
seventy times seven make 490 years. 5 At this time Socrates was born.

11 Xerxes, the son of Artaxerxes, having succeeded to the throne, reigns

1 Added by me.

2 Cf. above, Chapter 45, § 13.

3 This is vaguely put and the translation uncertain.

4 This heading was no doubt originally a marginal note, adopted at some time into the
text.

5 Cf. above, Chapter 44, § 13, and Chapter 45, § 12.

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for two months. 12 Sogdianos reigns for seven months. 13 Darius, the son
of Xerxes, nicknamed Nomios, 1 killed Sogdianos and reigned over the
Persians for eighteen years. 14 Artaxerxes, the son of Darius and Parysatis,
succeeded his father and reigned for forty-two years. During this time,
Plato the philosopher became famous as well as Aristotle. 15 Artaxerxes,
nick-named Ochos, reigned for twenty-two years. 16 Narses succeeded
him and reigned for four years. 17 Darius, the son of Arsamos, reigned
after Narses for six years. 18 When Alexander the Macedonian pressed
upon the Persians, Bessus and his men kill Darius in Bactria, and thus
the kingdom of the Persians is dissolved. It had lasted for a total of 300
years: seventy years of the Jewish exile and 230 more years. And so the
reign is transferred to the Macedonians. 19 Alexander declares to Jadous,
the high priest, to make an alliance with him against Darius. When he
refuses, Alexander destroys the cities of Tyros and Gaza by a great effort.
During the attack on 2 Tyros, he sees a satyr in his dreams, and the dream
interpreter says to him: ‘Tyros is yours, 3 Alexander.’ Then Alexander went
up to Jerusalem and subdued it and, having received a pledge of alliance
from the high priest, he honoured him as a god and paid his reverence to
him, and he retreated to Persia.

47 When Alexander the Macedonian had destroyed the hegemony
of the Persians, the power went over to the Macedonians. It was in the
seventh year of his reign that Alexander subdued the Persians and,
in addition to those seven years, he rules for six years and six months
also over the Persians after Darius. 2 On his death in Babylon Philip,
his brother, succeeds to power in Macedonia, and Antigonos in Asia,
and Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, and Arsinoe, the daughter of Meleager,
in Egypt, and Seleukos Nikator in Syria. 3 Ptolemy, the son of Lagos,
reigned over Egypt for forty years. At this time Epicurus, the philosopher,
became famous. 4 Ptolemy Philadelphos reigned for thirty-eight
years. He enslaved the Hebrews and forced them to translate the Holy
Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek. This translation is made by seventy
men famed among the Hebrews for their wisdom. When now the Holy
Scripture had been translated and was read aloud, it is said that the king
and all those in high office were astounded by the beauty of the Divine

1 Should probably be Nothos, ‘the Bastard.’

2 Or: ‘destruction of (ev ifj 7top0iiast, etc.).

3 This is a kind of pun: se (or: sa) Tyros (i.e. ‘Tyros is yours’) equals satyros (i.e. ‘satyr’)
(Greek cf| Ttjpoq). Cf. to this below. Chapter 112, § 3, and the similar pun on Thessalonica.

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Word. Menedemos, the philosopher, and Demetrios from Phaleron were
present at this occasion, and they shared the admiration for the power
of the words. Then the king asked them: ‘Considering that the Divine
Word is such, how is it that no historian or poet ever has made allusion
to it?’ And Demetrios answered, that ‘no one has ever dared to touch it,
for Theopompos, who wanted to write about it, was struck by madness
and saw in a dream that this happened to him because he had inquired
inopportunely into divine matters. Also Theodektes, the tragic poet, who
mentioned these holy books in a tragedy, was blinded, whereas others,
who refrained from this daring enterprise and respected God, remained in
good health.’ 1 5 Ptolemy Euergetes, the son of Philadelphos and Eurydice,
who was also known as Arsinoe, reigned for twenty-six years. During
this time Jesus son of Sirach, who wrote the Book of Wisdom, became
famous among the Hebrews. 6 Ptolemy Philopator, the son of Euergetes,
reigned for seventeen years. During his reign the Hebrew people, who had
been brought as prisoners to Egypt, suffered the following. He ordered
that his guards should give 500 of his elephants perfumed wine to drink,
in order that he might use them to destroy all the Jews. But due to the
prayer of the Jews, the elephants rushed in among the Macedonians’ own
generals and men and slew a great mass of them in the ensuing confusion.
And thus the Jews were saved and could return home thanking God.

7 Ptolemy Epiphanes, the son of Philopator, reigned for twenty-four years.

8 Ptolemy Philometor, the son of Epiphanes, reigned for thirty-five years.
During his reign Antiochos punished the Maccabees who did not want to
eat impure food. During the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, Hyrkanos and
Aristoboulos served as high priests to the Jews, and the people’s party
supported Hyrkanos, and the priests [supported] Aristoboulos. 9 There
was a pious and righteous man by the name of Onias, who belonged to the
priests and who had put an end to a drought by praying. They forced him to
pray for victory, and he prayed with the words: ‘Lord God, do not help the
people against your priests nor the priests against your people.’ The man
was stoned immediately, whereupon the Divine justice at once reached
them, for Pompey, the Roman general, attacked them and destroyed
the city. And entering the Holiest of Holy, Pompey did out of piety not
touch any of the holy objects, even if they were of great value. Rather he
ordered that the temple should be cleaned and that the sacrifices should

1 ‘refrained ... health’: or ‘gave up this daring enterprise, were healed for placating
God.’

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be made. Having been entrusted with the priesthood and power over the
Jews, Aristoboulos sent a vine plant of gold weighing 200 talents' as a gift
to Pompey. 10 Ptolemy Euergetes, the brother of Philometor, reigns for
twenty-nine years. Ptolemy Physkon reigned for seventeen years and six
months. Ptolemy with the by-name Alexas reigned for ten years. Ptolemy
II Soter, the son of Ptolemy II Euergetes and Cleopatra Euergetis, reigned
for eight years. Ptolemaios with the by-name Neos Dionysios reigned
for thirty years. 11 Cleopatra, the daughter of Neos Dionysios, succeeds
her father at his death, and Ptolemy her brother reigns together with her.
When he quarrelled with her, she had him killed and took sole control of
the state. She reigns for twenty-two years.

48 That Only Four Years of Cleopatra’s Reign Should be Included
in the Chronological Scheme

In the fourth year of Cleopatra’s reign 2 Julius Caesar, who had been made
a consul by the Romans, goes down to the East accompanied by a great
military force. And he conquers many of the peoples there and makes them
pay tribute, and he establishes officers of his own to oversee these places.
2 Thus he made Antipater of Ascalon governor of Palestine. Antipater was
the son of , a certain Herodes, who belonged to the people employed at the
temple and more precisely to the slaves there of Apollo. When he was a
child, Antipater had been carried away by Idumaean robbers who thought
that they would be able to get ransom for him. But, since his father had
been reduced to the utmost poverty. Antipater remained with his kidnappers
and worked for them and was raised according to their customs. 3 When
Antipater, who was envied because of his great wealth, had been killed by
a certain Jew called Ballichos, his children Herodes and Phasailos inherit
the power. Phasailos received Idumaea and the region of Jerusalem as his
part, and Herodes [received] Judaea and the Galilee. 4 When Antipater
learnt that Hyrkanos, who had ruled before him, had opened the tomb of
David and taken 3,000 talents 3 from it, he opened it too. He did not find any
money, but he took jewellery of gold and a lot of valuable treasures. When

1 See Chapter 48, § 4 with n.

2 Cleopatra VII reigned from March 51 BC, and Caesar came to Egypt in late
September 48.

3 The mass of one of these talents is presumably in the range 25-35 kg.

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he tried to go further into the grave, to the place where the bodies of David
and Solomon had been put, fire came out of the grave and killed two of his
guards. 5 Having arrived in Egypt, and having suppressed the attempts of
his enemies, Julius gains control of Cleopatra’s kingdom. Having settled all
matters of the government of the East, he then returned to Rome.

49 Gaius Julius Caesar 1

Gaius Julius Caesar reigned for four years and seven months. 2 He was
called Caesar, which means ‘dissection,’ since his mother died during the
ninth month of her pregnancy, and they had to dissect her in order to extract
him. 3 He was also called dictator, which means ‘sole ruler’; dictatorship is
a rule where one is not accountable to anyone. Also, the month Quintilis
was renamed Julius [July] because of Caesar, for it was in this month that
he acceded to sole power. 2 The same Julius subdued Germans and Gauls
and Britons in very great battles, and he made 500 major cities 4 liable to
pay taxes to the Romans. 3 A horse that had cloven hoofs instead of (solid)
horse hoofs was born to him. 5 This horse did not accept any rider other
than Caesar—just as was the case with Alexander’s horse, Boukephalos.
4 When he was passing through the courtyard door of his house on his
way to the Senate house, a statue 6 of him, standing in front of the door, fell
down of its own accord. In addition, someone gave him a piece of writing,
describing the whole plot which was being planned against him. But since
he thought that it was something different, he did not look at the message
but gave it to someone else for safe-keeping, and so he was killed by Brutus
and Cassius in the Senate.

1 From this chapter the Chronicle of Pseudo-Julius Pollux (see Introduction) has a
completely different text.

2 This could be from October 49 (the crossing of the Rubicon)-March 44.

3 This is not true but an interesting development of an original popular etymology trying
to make sense of Caesar’s name.

4 ’major cities’: jt6Xet<g oiicoupevac.

5 ‘was born to him’: or ‘was born and became his possession’ (xobrcp

6 ‘statue’: the Greek word, etK&v, could, of course, equally well signify a picture.
However, if this is meant to be outside the house, a statue is perhaps more plausible. Perhaps
the author of the text was unfamiliar with the idea that statues stood outside houses, and was
more used to painted surfaces.

50 Octavius Augustus

Octavius Augustus Caesar reigned for forty-six years. 1 After him the
Roman emperors were called augusti, 2 and the month was called August,
which means ‘venerable’; its earlier name was Sextilis. In the night
when he was born, his father dreamt that he saw the sun rise from his
wife’s womb. 2 Having killed Cassius and Brutus, who had murdered
Julius Caesar, Anthony, imperator and consul of the Romans, came to
Syria overpowered by his desire for Cleopatra. He chose not to return
from there to Rome to give an account of his rule. Therefore, Augustus
collected the armed forces in Italy and descended upon Anthony and,
when it comes to an encounter, Anthony is defeated and, together with
Cleopatra, he flees to Egypt. There Anthony made away with himself
by the sword, whereas Cleopatra, who had been captured and who
feared the triumph in Rome, held a snake near to herself and so dies.
Her children, Helios and Selene, were captured and paraded in triumph
in Rome. 3 During the time of Augustus the fourth age begins, the one
Daniel calls the fourth terrible beast in the vision of the four beasts. 3
4 Maecenas, who was a wise man, was much loved by Augustus. When
the emperor was sitting as a judge once and had condemned many to
death, Maecenas, who was not able to talk to him in private because of
the crowd, wrote a note, saying: ‘Stand up, you butcher,’ and he sealed
the note and threw it into the emperor’s lap. On reading it the emperor
rose and ordered that his rulings 4 should be annulled. 5 Further, when a
soldier to whom he had taken a liking asked him to attend a meeting of a
court of law, 5 he said that he himself was busy but that he would allow one
of his friends to attend and to perform the duty asked of him; the soldier
then said, infuriated: ‘I did not send another instead of myself every time
you asked for my help.’ At this the emperor blushed, and he went with

1 ‘forty-six years’: most probably this figure is wrong, although it could be (roughly)
the time from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC until Augustus’ death in AD 14 (however, this
would present us with a gap in the continuous chronology after Julius Caesar, and the years
between Caesar’s death and Actium would not be accounted for). Approximately fifty-eight
years are missing between the deaths of Julius Caesar and Augustus. Yet the most plausible
correction is perhaps into fifty-six (not fifty-eight), since this is the sum given by George
Synkellos (Adler/Tuffin 2002, p. 439).

2 AfiyooCTTOt.

3 See the Book of Daniel (especially Chapter 7).

4 Presumably the rulings of that day.

5 ‘court of law’: Poukeutfjpiov (usually of the Senate).

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the soldier and helped him. 6 He had also Athenodoros the Alexandrian,
a most wise man, in his following. Athenodoros checked the emperor in
his least noble enterprises and corrected him. The emperor often used to
praise Athenodoros in the Senate and to add that he himself had also been
corrected by Athenodoros, and that he had led a bad life earlier. In his old
age, Athenodoros asked for permission to return to his own country. He
said that the emperor was now perfect in every kind of philosophy and
practical action. However, when he was about to depart and embraced the
emperor, Athenodoros bent towards his ear and asked him that, whenever
he was angry, he should not order what should be done before he had
counted through all the twenty-four letters of the alphabet; 1 for he knew
that the emperor was quick to anger, but also easily changed his mind.
On hearing this, the emperor said: ‘It is good that you remind me that I
am not perfect. Therefore, I will not allow you to embark on this ship.’ 2

7 This Augustus went to Delphi and asked who was going to rule after
him. When the Pythian 3 priest did not answer, Augustus asked a second
time, wanting to know why the oracle did not answer. At this, the Pythia
said the following: 4

‘A Hebrew child, who rules among the blessed gods, tells me

To leave this house and take to the road.

Therefore, depart from our house.’

8 In the 5500th year from the Creation of the World, and in the forty-second
year of his rule, there was issued a decree from Augustus that the whole
world should be taxed. 5 In this year Our Lord was born, and Herod, who
had been appointed by Augustus, ruled over Judaea. 9 When Augustus was
about to die, a thunderbolt struck his picture 6 and wiped out the first letter

1 ‘twenty-four letters’: in other words, the Greek alphabet is intended.

2 ‘embark on this ship’ (iffc 6vEyKap£vn<; &n0f)vai): or ‘to travel this day,’ or ‘to tread
the ground which brought you forth.’

3 ‘Pythian priest’: this is in the masculine form, whereas the following, ‘Pythia,’ is in the
feminine.

4 These verses are in a pseudo-ancient form, unsuccessfully imitating the elegiac couplet
of the dactylic hexameter and the pentameter. They are known from the so-called Tubingen
Theosophy, see ‘La Theosophie de Tubingen,’ in H. van Kasteel, Oracles et prophetie,
Grez-Doiceau: Editions Beya, 2011, pp. 115-125.

5 Cf. Luke 2.

6 ‘picture’: or ‘statue’ (slicdva). Cf. above, Chapter 49, § 4, what happened to Caesar’s
statue (or picture).

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of his name. He then called the consuls and the senators’ together and said,
that ‘I received a Rome made out of clay, but I leave it to you made of stone.’
By this he was alluding to the solid strength of his power. He asked all
those in office to clap their hands and to laugh at the moment of his death,
as when an actor ends his performance. He did this in order to show his
scorn at human life and that it is worthy of ridicule. 10 Herod 2 is not called
a child-slayer only because of the children murdered in Bethlehem during
his frenzy against Christ, but also because of his own children: of these, he
murders three, and he then has their mother slain as well as their uncle and
many other family members; he also has a great many Jews killed at the
end of his life. 11 It should be noted that Herod the Great had three sons:
Herod Antipas, the one who had John the Baptist beheaded; Herod Philip,
to whom Herodias was first married and who became the father of Salome,
who danced; and Herod Agrippa, who killed James the son of Zebedee; he
was the brother of Herodias and the father of Agrippa and Ber(e)nike, and
it was before them 3 that Paul was tried and defended himself.

51 Tiberius

Tiberius reigned for twenty-two years and seven months. 4 Gaius was his
nephew. 2 On hearing what was said about Christ, Tiberius wanted to
proclaim him a god by imperial decree. 5 But this was opposed by the
Senate, and Pilate was removed from his position and sent to Rome, and
he was brought into such a predicament for having had Christ crucified
that he committed suicide. 6 3 When he was ill, Tiberius was suffocated

1 povXEVTd;: in the Byzantine part of the text the word ouykXtitik 6<; is used (and
translated by me as ‘senator’).

2 From this point, the material of this chapter—dealing with Palestine, Herod the Great
and his family (and, in that sense, because of the interest in Christ, connected with the
previous text)—is loosely added to a supposedly more original structure of the text that ends
with the death of the emperor. The same phenomenon (i.e. that additional material is added
and often carelessly integrated into a whole) occurs in many chapters below and will not be
commented upon in each case (see e.g. Chapters 51, § 4; 52, § 4; 53, §§ 4-6, etc.).

3 ‘before them’: or ‘during their reign.’

4 Tiberius reigned AD 18 September 14-16 March 37.

5 Tiberius is portrayed in a very positive manner: with sympathy, at the very least, for
the Christians, and as a righteous man.

6 Pilate was indeed recalled to Rome (see Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.89), although
no mention is made of Christ. The story of his suicide is told by Eusebios, Church History 11.7.

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by Gaius who heaped many cloaks upon him. 4 It is said about Tiberius
that he was reluctant to replace government officials, because he wanted
to spare his subjects; and that, when he was asked why he acted in this
way, he cited the proverbial expression about the flies sitting on a wound,
and how, when someone wanted to scare them away, the wounded man
prevented him, saying: ‘Do not do that, lest others should come who are
[even more] thirsty for blood.’

52 Gaius

Gaius reigned for three years and nine months. 1 He was a highly adulterous
man. 2 Coming once to the Forum Gaius saw mud on the road. He then had
Flavius Vespasian, who was an aedile 2 at that time, brought forward, and he
ordered that the mud should be thrown on Vespasian’s cloak, since he was
considered not to have attended to his duties in the proper manner. The true
meaning of this was that Vespasian in the future would take over public
matters when they were troubled. 3 Gaius was killed by Claudius. 4 During
Gaius’ reign, Agrippa governs Judaea, and Simon Magus 3 is baptised by
Philip, one of the Seven Deacons. 4

53 Claudius

Claudius reigned for thirteen years and five months. 5 2 He was a coward
and had everyone who approached him searched, lest they should be
carrying a dagger; at symposia he had armed guards at his side. This was
taken over from him by the following emperors, too. 3 He died having
eaten poisoned mushrooms. 4 During Claudius’ reign, Herod Agrippa had
James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, 6 and he put Peter in jail

1 Gaius, i.e. Caligula, reigned 16 March 37-24 January 41.

2 ‘aedile’: for Greek <tyopav6go<; (officer responsible for market place).

3 For Simon see Acts 8.9-24. His story is then developed in the Church fathers and other
texts, where he is portrayed as an early heretic. In this text he is referred to several times
(in Chapters 53, § 5, 62, § 4, and 128, § 5, in which case patriarch John the Grammarian is
referred to as a new Simon).

4 Mentioned in Acts 6.5: leaders elected by the early Christian community in Jerusalem.

5 More precisely, Claudius reigned 24 January 41-13 October 54.

6 See for this Acts 12.2.

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with the intention of killing him. 1 5 Simon Magus abandoned the Christian
faith and started to converse with sorcerers, and he came down to Rome
and was honoured and worshipped like a god because of his witchcraft.
However, when Peter came to Rome to deal with this, Simon’s power
disappeared at once. 6 At the request of all, Peter encouraged Mark to use
his oral teachings to the Romans and write his gospel. 2 On sending this
gospel also to Egypt, Mark was made the first bishop and evangelist 3 of
Alexandria. 7 Agrippa dressed in a shining golden garment and made a
public speech to the Jews. When they said that he was speaking with the
voice of God not of men, he greatly rejoiced—and is immediately struck
down by an angel’s sword 4 and dies.

54 Nero, the Son of Claudius

Nero reigned for thirteen years and eight months. 5 He was related to
Aeneas, Romulus and Augustus. 2 He killed his mother and his fiancee,
and he married a eunuch. 3 Because of Nero’s shameful and reckless way
of life, some men made an uprising against him in order to kill him. He
then entreated his associates to kill him. When nobody was willing to do
so, he said: ‘I am the only one who has neither a friend to save him nor
an enemy to kill him. The soul wants to die, but the hand is not willing to
serve.’ 6 His last words were: ‘O Zeus, what a skilful lyre-player now dies.’
He then killed himself. When he was dead, people wore the pallium, as if
they had been released from slavery. 7 4 When Agrippa dies, Festus is made
his successor by Nero. 5 When Paul preaches the gospel during the time
of Festus, he is sent to Nero to defend himself. On this occasion he does so
successfully, but when he comes to Rome for a second time, he has his head

1 From here this chapter gives additional material of interest to the Early Church.

2 Or: ‘to use his oral teachings and write a gospel for the Romans.’

3 Or, less specifically: ‘herald’ (lcrjpul;).

4 ‘angel’s sword’: the Greek word used (fiopcpaia) is the same as that used for the flaming
sword in the Old Testament (cf. above, Chapter 20, § 3-Chapter 21, § 3).

5 Nero reigned 13 October 54-9 June 68.

6 Cf. the last words of Hadrian below, Chapter 63, § 4.

7 pallium: a kind of cloak (Greek ipdriov). This looks like a piece of memory history:
Augustus’ concern with dresscodes has been reinterpreted and given symbolic meaning.
At least since Tertullian (late second-early third c.), who wrote a work called Depallio, the
word is given a Christian connotation, and the dress considered appropriate for a Christian
and a philosopher.

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cut off by Nero. Likewise, Nero orders that the leader of the Christians,
Peter, should be crucified. 6 During Nero’s reign the Jews pushed James,
the brother of the Lord, from the pinnacle of the temple and killed him.
Immediately afterwards, and because of the murder of James, Vespasian,
general of the Romans, destroys Jerusalem.

55 Galba

Galba reigned for eight months and thirteen days. 1 He belonged to a noble
family. 2 He had Otho as his co-ruler. On seeing Galba adopt Lucius as
his son, Otho became jealous, and he moved the army against Galba and
had him killed. 3 When Otho was asked by the soldiers for money he had
promised them, he said that ‘the emperor should not be forced.’

56 Otho

Otho reigned for three months and eight days. 2 He came from an undistin¬
guished family. 2 Once, when he was performing a sacrifice in the temple,
he mixed songs of Aphrodite into the holy rituals. Because of this, Vitalius
rebelled against him, and Otho killed himself saying: ‘Why did I have to
play with long pipes?’ 3 3 Galba, Otho and Vitalius were killed by soldiers
when at war. The Roman Senate proclaimed Vespasian emperor. He was
besieging Jerusalem at the time; he was considered to be a sensible and
courageous man.

57 Vitalius

Vitalius reigned for one year. 4 He came from a distinguished family. 2 He
ordered all astrologers, astronomers and sorcerers to leave Italy by a certain
date. But they circulated a document predicting that Vitalius would depart
from life by a certain date—which happened. He was killed by soldiers.

1 Galba reigned 8 June 68-15 January 69.

2 Otho reigned 15 January-16 April 69.

3 I.e. to try to compete in a league above one’s own (Greek paKpoi? axA olq).

4 Vitalius (Vitellius) reigned 16 April-22 December 69—the date is not given with the

same kind of precision as in the previous cases.

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58 Vespasian

Vespasian reigned for ten years and eight days. 1 He was of undistinguished
parents. 2 He became emperor while he was still in Palestine besieging
the cities of the Jews. He also made Josephus, the writer, his slave. He was
fetched back to Rome after having been proclaimed emperor by the army,
leaving Titus, his son, to continue the siege in Palestine. 3 Vespasian dies
of illness. 4 Josephus tells in an admirable way the story of the capture of
Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus, his son.

59 Titus

Titus reigned for two years and three months. 2 He is the one who besieged
Jerusalem. 2 He was killed by Domitian, his brother, who threw him into
a wooden chest full of snow when he was ill. 3 Domitian did this on the
pretence that it would cure Titus, but so he killed him. 3 Titus put fear
into those in responsible positions by means of threats rather than punish¬
ments. 4 During his reign not a day passed when he did not make a gift to
someone or do some good work. For it is the duty of an emperor to do noble
acts and to speak the truth. He said that he who sees the emperor should
not depart in sadness.

60 Domitian

Domitian reigned for fifteen years and eleven months. 5 2 He made an
enquiry into the birthday horoscopes of the noblemen of Rome and,
discovering that not a few of them were destined to come to power, he had
them killed on some pretext or other. For he was a man of wicked deeds
and full of hatred against humanity. 3 During his reign the apostle Timothy
died as a martyr, and a charge was brought against John the Evangelist,

1 Vespasian rather reigned ten years less eight days (1 July 69-23 June 79).

2 Titus reigned 24 June 79-13 September 81.

3 If we are to believe Suetonius (Titus X), it is true that Titus suffered from fever.

4 In this paragraph a well-known theme, the clemency of Titus, is developed.

5 If this is meant to denote the time from the death of Titus until the death of Domitian
itself, it is not correct: Domitian reigned for fifteen years and four days (14 September 81-18
September 96).

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who was exiled to Patmos. 4 Apollonius of Tyana, then in his prime,
came to Byzantium. 1 Requested to do so by some people, he cast spells
to prevent snakes and scorpions from biting, and to ward off mosquitoes,
and he prevented horses from behaving haughtily or wildly, either against
people or against each other. 5 Domitian ordered that fNerva 2 should
be thrown live into a fire. This he did because the astronomers had said
that the man should be destroyed by dogs. But a great amount of rain fell
and extinguished the pyre, and while his hands were still fettered, dogs
that were running loose devoured him. 6 An astronomer, Larpus, told
Domitian to his face that he would die on a certain day. Domitian ordered
that Larpus should be held in fetters and be killed on the day after that
day had passed. But Domitian died, and Larpus was released unharmed.
7 Domitian ordered that people of the house of David and of Christ should
be killed, for he feared the coming of Christ, just as Herod had done,
because the teaching had already gathered some strength. 8 Therefore,
relatives of the Lord were brought into the presence of Domitian, and he
asked them if they descended from David and Christ. And they confessed
as much. ‘And how much,’ he said, ‘money do you have?’ ‘Together,’ he
said, 3 ‘we own nine denarii and some plethrcd of land, from which we pay
our taxes.’ And they showed their hands, which were rough from work.
Domitian said: ‘And of what kind is the Kingdom of Christ and when will
it appear?’ They answered, that ‘it is not of this world, nor of this earth,
but heavenly and at the end of time, [when Christ will appear] 5 in glory,
to judge the living and the dead.’ This answer made him think little of
them, and he ordered that they should be released and the persecution of
the Church stop.

1 Apollonius the philosopher was used in anti-Christian propaganda in Antiquity. This
provoked replies from Eusebios and others, and, accordingly, he is depicted negatively in
Byzantine sources. The text also mentions him as a magician in Chapter 132, § 21.

2 This story is told by Suetonius, Domitianus XV.3. The astrologer who is thrown into
the fire was, according to Suetonius, called Ascletarion. Nerva is obvious nonsense, since
he was the successor to Domitian. Of some interest, in order to explain why the name of
Nerva appears like this in the text, may be that Minerva is mentioned at the beginning of the
paragraph in Suetonius.

3 ‘he’: this must refer to a spokesman of the Christians.

4 I.e. they did not possess much (a denarius may have been the day wage of a labourer,
and a square plethron was 100x100 feet).

5 The words within square brackets have been supplied by me: as it stands, the text is

short but logically understandable.

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61Nerva

Nerva reigned for one year and four months. 1 He was a reasonable and
fair man. He recalled John 2 from exile and sent him to Ephesus, where
he dies. 2 When there came tidings from Paeonia of Trajan’s victories,
Nerva went up the Capitol Hill and made an offering of frankincense and,
standing at the altar, in the presence of the Senate and the Roman people,
he proclaimed with powerful voice: ‘May this bring luck! I, Marcus Nerva,
adopt Trajan as my son.’ 3 Nerva forbade anyone in Rome to be castrated.
4 And he dies by illness.

62 Trajan

Trajan reigned for nineteen years and six months. 3 He hated wickedness
and loved justice. For on one occasion, he drew his sword in front of all
the dignitaries, and he gave it to the eparchos 4 and said: ‘Take this, and if I
rule well, use it to protect me, and if not, use it against me.’ Nerva selected
him for office because of his ability. For he was an extremely good soldier
and had achieved many successes, in Rome and everywhere. 2 Once, a
friend of his was accused of treason and had his eyes put out and his beard
shaved. When he, now blind, was brought to Trajan, the emperor pitied him
greatly. He sent him to the city now called Traianoupolis (which he had
founded in his own name) to be its ruler for the rest of his life; this he did
out of compassion for the man. 5 3 Trajan dies after having made Hadrian
emperor. 4 During Trajan’s reign, Ignatius Theophorus and Symeon, son of
Cleopas, suffered martyrdom. Trajan ordered that the Christians should not
be searched out, but if discovered, should be punished. 6 During his reign,
Menander, a sorcerer and cheat of Samarian descent, who called himself
Christian, succeeded Simon Magus. Cerinthus, the heresiarch, also lived at
that time, as well as Nicholas, one of the Seven Deacons.

1 Nerva reigned 18 September 96-27 January 98.

2 I.e. the Evangelist (Apostle).

3 Trajan reigned 28 January 98-9 August 117.

4 Eparchoi (in the MSS frequently confused with hyparchof) are sometimes mentioned
in the Byzantine section of the text. In this case, the pretorian prefect is probably intended.

5 The syntax of this sentence is very loose but the meaning clear.

6 Trajan was considered a righteous pagan. This oft-repeated story goes back to Pliny
the Younger, Letters X.96-97, and was transmitted to Byzantium via Eusebios.

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63 Hadrian Aelius

Hadrian Aelius reigned for twenty years and eleven months. 1 He was fond
of literature and a careful writer of prose as well as poetry. He was related
to Trajan and was adopted by him as his son. 2 This Hadrian founded
a city in Moesia, where he had gone to hunt, and he called it Hadrian’s
Hunt at his camp. 2 He also founded another city in Thrace and named it
after himself. He also destroyed the city of the Jews, killing all of them
through starvation or war. A sign of their complete destruction was that
the monument of Solomon collapsed of its own accord. He then rebuilt
the city and put a statue of himself in the temple, and he named the city
Aelia after himself. He did this because he was suffering from leprosy and
wanted to be cured. 3 He held a certain Similus, a man adorned with good
sense and mildness and many virtues, in high esteem, and he honoured
him with high office. However, having been in office only for a short time,
Similus asked to be released from duty, and he lived in the countryside for
seven years until he died. He ordered that the following should be written
on his tombstone: ‘Here lies Similus, who dwelled on earth for so-and-so
many years, but who lived for seven years.’ 4 Having made Antoninus
emperor, Hadrian dies. He died in a violent fit of disease, crying: ‘O Zeus,
how horrible to wish for death but not to be given it.’ 3 5 During the reign
of Hadrian there were the following heresiarchs, who were enemies of the
Christian faith: Satorninus, Basileides and Carpocrates.

64 Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius reigned for twenty-four years. 4 He was the first of the
emperors to be called pious; for he possessed every kind of virtue. 2 He
died after having made Marcus Antoninus, his son-in-law, emperor.

1 Hadrian reigned 10 August 117-10 July 138.

2 ‘he called it Hadrians Hunt at his camp’: this is an obscure expression, and it is unclear
where ‘at his camp’ (£v xoi? pitdioiq) belongs. The founding story as such is known from
Cassius Dio XLIX.10, etc.

3 This is somewhat reminiscent of Nero’s last words (see above, Chapter 54, § 3).

4 Antoninus Pius reigned 138-161.

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65 Marcus Antoninus, the Philosopher, and Verus, his Son-in-law

Marcus Antoninus reigned for nineteen years together with Verus, his
son-in-law. 1 2 This Marcus was a very wise and virtuous man, and he saved
Rome from danger in many wars and was dearly loved by the citizens. He
died poisoned by his own son, Commodus. In remembrance of his virtue the
Senate honoured him after his death with a golden statue. 3 When Marcus
fought the Germans and the Sarmatians, the army was hard pressed by
thirst and therefore in danger. There is the story that members of the the
legion known as the ‘Legion of Melitene,’ who were Christians, through
their unceasing prayer to God had the enemy struck by lightning and the
Romans comforted by rain. On hearing this, Marcus, it is said, was very
much impressed, and he wrote that the Christians should be honoured and
the legion be called ‘Keraunobolos.’ 2

66 Commodus, Son of Marcus

Commodus, son of Marcus, reigned for twelve years and five months. 3 He
had blond hair, similar to gold. He was fond of hunting, and they say that he
killed twelve lions in one day. But he acquired gout and became very heavy.
The inhabitants of Rome were struck by many disasters during his reign.
2 A certain Narcissus, who belonged to Commodus’ household, throttled
him in the bath (this, is told by the most wise Africanus 4 ). 3 During his
reign Clemens Stromateus 5 became known in Alexandria; Origenes was a
pupil of Clemens. Montanus, the heresiarch, also lived at that time, he who
claimed to be a divine intercessor. 6

1 Marcus Antoninus (Aurelius) reigned 161-180. In actual fact, Verus died in 169, i.e.
some eight years into Marcus’ reign.

2 I.e. the ‘Thundering legion.’ This anecdote is told by a great range of authors, from
Tertullian ( Apologeticum ), Eusebios (Church History V.5) and various Church Fathers to
the Byzantine chroniclers. Marcus Antoninus is a ‘good’ pagan emperor, a fact conveniently
proven by the anecdote.

3 Commodus reigned 180-192.

4 This is (Sextus) Julius Africanus (ca. 160-240), the ‘Father of Christian Chronography’
mentioned in the Introduction.

5 I.e. Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215).

6 Intercessor (7tapdKXr|T0i;): or ‘comforter/helper/counsellor.’

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67 Pertinax

Pertinax reigned for eighty-seven days, bringing neither his wife nor his
children to the palace but having them stay with their grandfather. 1 Pertinax
was killed by the army. 2 During Pertinax’s reign there lived Symmachus,
one of the translators; he belonged to the Ebionite heresy. 2 But there was
also Porphyrius, the philosopher, who wrote against the Christians, and the
most wise Africanus.

68 Julianus Didius

Julianus Didius reigned for sixty-six days. He was a man of very bad
character and wicked in his deeds and a lover of money, and for this reason
he was killed. This was done on the vote of the Senate, while he was crying:
‘What evil have I done?’ 3

69 Severus

Severus reigned for seventeen years and eight months. 4 2 He occupied
Byzantium 5 and razed its walls to the ground. The walls had seven towers,
starting from the Thracian Gate and going down to the northern sea, and
they were arranged in such a manner that, if someone proceeded to one
tower, this was not seen at the others. But if someone shouted at the first
tower, or moved a stone, the tower resounded and transmitted the sound
to the next and so to all the others, one after another. Severus also had the
Zeuxippos bath built for the inhabitants of Byzantium, and he gave them

1 Pertinax is the first emperor of the tumultuous year 193. Pescennius Niger and Clodius
Albinus, also competitors for the throne, are not mentioned in this text.

2 Symmachus translated the Old Testament into Greek (in the second c. AD). His
translation is referred to in this text (see Chapter 13, § 7) and there are also other fragments
and testimonia, particularly through Origen’s Hexapla. According to this text and some
other sources, Symmachus was a member of the Jewish-Christian Ebionite sect.

3 Told by Cassius Dio LXX.17.5.

4 Septimius Severus reigned 193-211.

5 I.e. the City of Byzantium, the future Constantinople.

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the first built-up hippodrome, and he built a hunting park' and a theatre for
them. 3 During Severus’ reign Origen was also in his prime; Origen sowed
evil weeds in the earth and displayed every kind of depravity. 2 Leonides,
Origen’s father, also suffered martyrdom. 4 The emperor fell ill and died in
battle. 5 Having won the war in Britain the emperor constructed a wall of a
thousand stadia over the island, from sea to sea. 3

70 Antoninus

Antoninus, son of Severus, reigned for six years and two months. 4
He murdered his own brother in the bosom of his mother. 5 2 A certain
mathematician 6 called Sarapion said that Antoninus would die and be
succeeded by Macrinus; and he pointed out to the emperor Macrinus, who
was standing with the Senate. But Antoninus was so perturbed (or rather
this was the will of fate) that he did not understand who Macrinus was but
ordered that a man standing close to him should be killed. But Macrinus
took care to anticipate Antoninus and, when Antoninus descended from
his horse in the hunting park 7 in order to relieve himself, Macrinus sent a
centurion and had him killed by the sword, saying: ‘You killed your brother,
so I kill you.’ 3 During Antoninus’ reign Origenes wrote many different
books which he left to posterity, among other things what is known as the
Hexapla and the commentary on the [books of the] Hebrews. 8

1 ‘hunting park’ (xuviiyiov): or ‘game preserve7‘beast-hunt* (I consider it likely that the
meaning here is the same as in Chapter 70, § 2, where it must be a rather spacious place, since
the emperor goes riding there). In contrast, in Chapter 117, § 2 (and 122, § 3), I take Kuvrp/iov
(which is then preceded by the definite article) to be a proper name denoting the (ancient
Roman) amphitheatre used for beast shows and, later on, for executions.

2 This is the well-known scholar and theologian (184/85-253/254) who, because of
several aspects of his teachings, was condemned as an heretic, notably at the Synod of
Constantinople in 543.

3 This is the Antonine Wall, constructed from 142 and only repaired during the reign of
Severus.

4 I.e. Caracalla. The six years and two months mentioned correspond roughly to his
period as ruler after the death of his father (February 211-April 217).

5 The brother was Geta.

6 I.e. astrologer.

7 Cf. above, Chapter 69, § 2.

8 'Hexapla ... Hebrews’: this is obscure and the translation uncertain. Hexapla (‘the
six-fold’) is the famous edition of the Bible in six versions: Hebrew, Greek transliteration of
Hebrew, and four Greek translations.

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71 Macrinus

Macrinus reigned for one year and two months. 1 2 A certain Eutychianus
took Avitus, who was Antoninus’ son born out of wedlock, to himself,
and he put a crown on his head and proclaimed him emperor. And he gave
gold to the soldiers and started a war against Macrinus, and Macrinus was
defeated and fled and was killed together with his son.

72 Avitus

Avitus reigned for three years and nine months. 2 He was so much like a
woman that he even made Hierocles his lawful husband. 2 He was killed
because of his depravities, and he died a terrible death. And so Alexander,
his cousin, became emperor. Avitus begged his doctor to make him bi-sexed
by means of an artificial cut in the front. 3

73 Alexander, Son of Mamaea

Alexander, son of Mamaea, 4 reigned for thirteen years and eight months. 5
During his reign there was a famine in Rome, so that the Romans even
touched human flesh. 2 Alexander went to war against Persia and was
totally defeated, after which he was subjected to humiliation and was
killed. And the soldiers promoted Maximinus to the throne. 3 Mamaea,
Alexander’s mother, who was a pious woman, sent for Origen, who lived in
Antioch, to have him teach her about the mystery of Christ.

1 Macrinus reigned April 217-June 218.

2 This is emperor Elagabalus (218-222), born Varius Avitus Bassianus.

3 Avitus-EIagabalus’ sexual orientation, and possible transgender identity, is reported
by Cassius Dio LXXX.16.

4 Julia Avita Mamaea.

5 Alexander Severus reigned March 222-March 235, so this is not quite correct.

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74 Maximinus

Maximinus reigned for six years. 1 He had been a shepherd and later became
a soldier and was then made strategos 2 of Alexandria. He was promoted to
the imperial throne by the people and the Senate because of his courage
and good sense. 2 Later, he was treacherously killed by Maximus and
Balbinus, meeting with an end worthy of his wicked mind. Maximinus
started a great persecution of the Christians. This was because of his hatred
against Alexander, who had many Christians with him and who paid them
great respect.

75 Maximus and Balbinus

Maximus and Balbinus reigned for twenty-two days. 3 They were killed by
the soldiers in the same way as the earlier caesar Gordian had been killed by
Maximinus on becoming emperor; 4 for the killing happened when Philip,
the eparchos, stopped bread from being conveyed to the army. This Philip
was the father of the holy martyr Eugenia. 2 During the reign of Maximus
and Gordian, 5 Afiricanus, the writer, became known.

76 Philip

Philip reigned for five years. 6 He was eagerly interested in Christianity and
endowed with good sense and fairness. He stemmed from Bostra; there

1 Maximinus Thrax reigned 235-238, and the six years mentioned by this text would
seem to be an error (see, however, below, with relevant notes).

2 In the Byzantine section of the text, a common title for a military commander.

3 Pupienus Maximus and Balbinus reigned April-July 238. The period of twenty-two days
mentioned would suit better the joint reign of Gordian I and Gordian II (see following note).

4 Gordian 1 and Gordian II, father and son, reigned together 22 March-12 April 238
(being in open conflict with Maximinus Thrax). The Gordian mentioned here would seem to
be Gordian II. See also following note.

5 Gordian II? It should be noted that Gordian III (reigned 238-244) is, if so, not referred
to at all in this text, and the years of his reign are not covered. On the other hand, it should
be noted (cf. above. Chapter 74, § 1) that the reign of Maximinus Thrax is said to have lasted
six years (instead of the correct number of three). This error could in fact be connected to the
lack of years at this point.

6 Philip the Arab reigned 244-249.

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he also founded a city, which he called Philippoupolis. 2 Philip concluded
a peace treaty with Shapur, the king of the Persians. 1 Philip was admired
for his bodily size, for until that time no man of that size had been known.
3 Philip, together with his son, was killed by Decius when fighting for the
Christians.

77 Decius

Decius reigned for two years. 2 He punished many saintly people and had
them sent to their death. On the instigation of Gallus and Volusianus,
he was killed by the Scythians 3 by being drowned in a swamp together
with his son. Thus they met with a punishment commensurate with their
brutality and, because of this, not even parts of their bodies were found
afterwards. 4 2 During Decius’ reign Clemens Stromateus, Africanus and
Gregory the Wonderworker lived. During Decius’ reign Novatian, 5 one
of the presbyteroi, 6 defected from the Church. For he was not willing to
receive back people who had made pagan offerings and repented. During
Decius’ reign St Cyprian suffered martyrdom, as well as the Seven Children
of Ephesus 7 and many other holy persons.

1 This is Shapur I (Taptbprii;) who reigned 240/42-270/72.

2 Decius reigned 249-251.

3 Perhaps Goths in this case (for further references to Goths and Scythians see Index of
names).

4 Being known for his persecution of the Christians, Decius meets with a fitting end.
This is an early example of a theme developed more systematically later: the bad death of the
(un)deserving (see below, e.g. Chapter 132, § 2, on the fate of the accomplices to the murder
of Michael III, or Chapter 134, § 9, on the death of emperor Alexander). A starting point for
all this is provided by stories in the Old Testament, dealing with Cain and others, and the idea
is also known from literature such as Lactantius’ De morlibus persecutorum.

5 Or: ‘Nauatos.’

6 Cf. above, Chapter 37, § 1, and 43, § 3, in which cases the same word is understood in
a less technical sense as ‘elders.’

7 I.e. the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, a story known since Late Antiquity. These were
persecuted for being Christians, or, less specifically, for refusing to indulge in the kind of
idolatry demanded by the imperial cult. As related below. Chapter 97, § 4, they woke up
during the reign of emperor Theodosios the Younger, i.e. when Christianity had prevailed.

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78 Gallus and Volusianus

Gallus and Volusianus reigned for two years and eight months. 1 During
their reign there was a great plague which started from Ethiopia and went
as far as the West, and no city was spared from this menace. It lasted for
fifteen years, starting in the autumn and ending at the rising of the Dog
Star. 2 The disease was transmitted by clothes and by visual contact. And
the Scythians crossed the Istros and ravaged and occupied the whole of
the West and Italy as well as the East and Asia, with the sole exception of
Ilium and Kyzikos. 2 Gallus and Volusianus were killed by the soldiers,
and so Aemilian was proclaimed emperor. During the reign of Gallus and
Volusianus the heresy of Sabellios began. 3

79 Aemilian

Aemilian reigned for four months. 4 He was commander of the army in
Moesia as well as of a Libyan army. With these armies, he fought the
Scythians and, having achieved victory on several occasions, he was puffed
up by his success and had himself proclaimed emperor. 2 Aemilian, too, is
killed by soldiers.

80 Valerian and Galenus

Valerian and Galenus, his son, reigned for fifteen years. 5 2 This Valerian
went to war against Shapur, the Persian, and on being captured in the city of
Caesarea, together with 400,000 men, he was flogged to death by Shapur.
3 After Valerian’s death Galenus organised cavalry brigades. 6 He was the

1 Trebonianus Gallus reigned, mostly together with his son, Volusianus, June 251-
August 253. It is unclear how this could be two years and eight months.

2 I.e. Sirius. This is, perhaps, odd: the heliacal rising of Sirius must have taken place
somewhere in July/August. It leaves very little time in each year without the plague.

3 Sabellianism was a heresy that opposed the idea of the Trinity.

4 Aemilian reigned in 253, and the length of his reign is usually given as three months
(so Eutropius, Breviarium ab Urbe condita 9.6).

5 I.e. Valerian and Gallienus. Valerian was captured by the Persians in 259, and the
fifteen years apply to Gallienus (253-268).

6 Tagmata, a word with a technical meaning in the Byzantine part of the text (cf. Index
of terms and concepts).

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first to do so, for the Roman soldiers had to a great degree been infantry
men before. Galenus, too, was killed by soldiers.

81 Claudius

Claudius reigned for one year. 1 He was the grandfather of Constantius, 2 the
father of Constantine the Great. 2 During his reign the Scythians passed
through and went to Athens and occupied it. And they gathered together
all the books and wanted to burn them. But a sensible man among them
stopped them saying that ‘it is on these that the Romans spend their time
so as to neglect warfare.’ 3 Having promoted Aurelian to the throne this
emperor dies of illness.

82 Aurelian

Aurelian reigned for six years. 3 He was killed by the army between Heraclea
and Byzantium, in what is called the New Fortress. 4 And he was buried
there. 2 Aurelian had a certain man 5 employed as a spy, who reported to
him everything done and said. When this man was threatened once by
the emperor for some reason, 6 and was frightened by this, he imitated
the handwriting of the emperor and named in a document some leading
men as being liable to execution. This frightened them so that they killed
Aurelian. 3 Also during his reign St Chariton became a confessor for the
faith. During Aurelian’s reign the accursed Mani 7 was born. It is from him
that the name of Manichean comes and has spread to so many.

1 Claudius II Gothicus reigned September 268-Ianuary 270.

2 I.e. Constantius Chlorus.

3 Aurelian reigned September 270-September/October 275. Quintillus is lacking
between Claudius and Aurelian in the list of emperors.

4 Kaivdv <I>poupiov, in Eastern Thrace.

5 ‘Aurelian ... man’: there is a slight problem of interpretation here: perhaps the spy’s
name was also Aurelian.

6 ‘for some reason’: or ‘because of some accusation.’

7 The founder of Manichaeism, a gnostic, dualistic religion of considerable importance
in Late Antiquity. Manichaeism proper became extinct at some later date, but followers of
other, later heresies (such as that of the Paulicians) could be accused of being Manicheans. It
is an interesting question whether the author of this part of our chronicle perceives something
of a real threat still emanating from Mani and his teachings.

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83 Tacitus

Tacitus reigned for two years. 1 He made his relative Maximinus governor of
Assyria. 2 The soldiers killed this Maximinus because of the crimes which
he had committed. Then they feared that Tacitus would exact vengeance on
his behalf, and so they killed him, too. Thus Probus and Florianus became
emperors.

84 Probus and Florianus

Probus reigned together with Florianus for two years. 3 During Probus’
reign there was a great downpour of rain during which much bread 4 fell
from heaven. This they collected into big heaps. 2 Having invited those
involved in the killing of Tacitus and Aurelian to a banquet at Peirinthos,
Probus had them all killed. He, too, was killed by his closest circle, and so
Carus becomes emperor together with Carinus and Numerian.

85 Carus, Carinus and Numerian

Carus, Carinus and Numerian reigned for two years. 5 This Carus occupied
Persia and Ctesiphon. This was the fourth time that these were occupied: it
had happened under Trajan, under Verus, under Severus and [it happened
now under] Carus. After Carus’ death Carinus, who had been blinded, was
killed by Apros. And so Numerian became emperor. 6 2 During his reign
St George suffered martyrdom as well as St Babylas in Antioch. He 7 was
killed by Diocletian, the then doux % of Moesia.

1 Tacitus reigned September 275-Iune 276. Two years is therefore hardly expected as
the time period for his reign.

2 I.e. Syria.

3 This is problematic, since Probus reigned 276-282 and Florianus for some three
months in 276.

4 Or: ‘grain.’

5 This can be understood as the two years (282-284) before Diocletian entered the stage,
although Carinus went on to rule until 285.

6 This is not historically correct: Carinus outlived Numerian (cf. previous note).

7 I.e. the emperor Numerian.

8 The term doux is used three times in this text, always for some kind of ruler/official in
the West (cf. Chapter 130, § 11, and Chapter 133, §11).

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86 Diocletian

Diocletian, a Dalmatian by birth, reigned for twenty years. 1 Unable to control
the situation on his own, he makes Maximianus Herculius, his son-in-law and
friend, co-emperor. During their reign a great persecution of the Christians
started. Diocletian and Maximianus promote Constantius and Galerius
to the rank of caesars in their respective realms, and they make them their
son-in-laws, persuading them to leave their spouses and take the emperors’
daughters for wives: Theodora became the wife of Constantius, and Valeria
that of Galerius. 2 Of these, 2 Galerius asked Diocletian for permission and was
sent against the Persians to fight them. Having defeated them, he invaded the
Persian palace and seized Shapur’s 3 wife, and in great triumph he returned to
Diocletian with bags full of precious stones and pearls. Using these, Diocletian
was the first to wear a robe and shoes embellished with precious stones and
gold. He also demanded that, in conflict with earlier custom, he should be
hailed with proskynesis , 4 and he celebrated a triumph [it was called triumph
because of the poetic word thriasis, that is, frenzy, or because the leaves of
the fig are called thria]. 5 3 In the twentieth year of their reign Diocletian and
Maximianus suddenly abdicated one day. Diocletian lived as a private citizen
for twelve years. Then, when his tongue and his throat were putrified and
worms came forth, he gave up his spirit. 6 7 But Herculius wanted to resume the
rule and, when he did not succeed in this, he hanged himself. Galerius became
infested with worms and gave up his soul, having first given Licinius share
in the rule of the East. 4 During Diocletian’s reign Adauctus the magistros 1

1 Diocletian reigned November 285-May 305. Here begins Theophanes’ chronicle, a
major source for the Chronicle of the Logothete (see the Introduction). For a translation of
Theophanes on Diocletian see Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 5-19. Cf. for Diocletian’s reign also the
Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 1-6).

2 ‘Of these’: the Greek genitive thus translated (<bv) is awkward.

3 This reference is problematic insofar as no Shapur reigned at the same time as
Diocletian. Either there is an erroneous attribution of an episode to the wrong emperor
(Narseh), or ‘Shapur’ is used generically for any Persian-Sasanian king (a parallel to this
would be Chapter 104, § 16, where a Persian king is referred to as a ‘Darius’).

4 I.e. prostration.

5 The sentence within square brackets is most probably a gloss added later to the text.

6 As instigator of the Great Persecution of the Christians Diocletian had, according to
early Christian and Byzantine belief, every reason to expect an unpleasant end to his life.

7 This is the first occurrence of the term in this text. Offices such as magister equitum
and magister officiorum are well attested in Late Antiquity. The Byzantine magistros as an
honorary title is known from the mid-Byzantine period. It is hard to say whether people in
the later period were aware of the changes in meaning that the term had undergone.

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suffered martyrdom. When his wife and two daughters were looked for,
it turned out that they had fled and, in order not to lose their honour, the
mother threw herself into the river together with her daughters. One should
investigate whether these are counted among the martyrs. 1 5 A certain
fraudster called Theotecnus, acting upon the instigation of Maximianus,
fabricated an account of the acts of Pilate during the time of Christ. These
were full of every kind of blasphemy, and he sent them to every city and
village together with Maximianus’ order to the school-masters that they
should teach these to the children, in order to make our mystery a matter
of ridicule.

87 Constantius Chlorus, the Father of Constantine the Great

Constantius reigned as emperor for two years, having been caesar for
thirteen years. 2 By Helena he became the father of Constantine; this
happened close to the city in Dacia. 3 Maxentius and Maximinus are killed
by Licinius, and from the time of Diocletian and Galerius, the Persians
lived in peace with the Romans, and their royal women and children
were allowed to return home. 2 Constantius was a pious man and raised
his son Constantine to be so, too, and they in no way took part in the
persecution of our kind. He even allowed those living under his rule
to lead a Christian life without fear and without impediment. Having 4
proclaimed Constantine augustus s and emperor in Rome, Maximinus
committed many atrocities against the Christians in the East, and so
did Maxentius in Rome. 3 The divine Constantine proceeded towards
the annihilation of the tyrants, and Maxentius is killed by him in Rome;
this was when God also gave him the sign of the Cross as a token of

1 This could refer to several different kinds of collections containing information about
who is a saint, such as a menologion or a synaxarion.

2 Constantius Chlorus was caesar 293-305 and augustus, 1 May 305-25 July 306. Cf.
for his reign the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, p. 6). On Theophanes see below,
n. on Chapter 88, § 1.

3 ‘the city in Dacia’: the expression is somewhat odd but should refer to Constantine’s
city of birth, Naissus (Ni§ in present-day Serbia). This was in the old Roman province of
Moesia superior. Constantine made it the capital of the province of Dacia Mediterranea.

4 This chapter is structurally odd. Constantius Chlorus is phased out (his death is not
mentioned), and the rest of the chapter is about Constantine.

5 oEPaoxbv.

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an alliance. 1 Maximinus was defeated in the East, by Licinius, who
had not yet gone mad, and he fled and died of a dreadful illness. When
Maxentius and Licinius had been killed, Constantine gained control
of all land under Roman sovereignty, and he made many laws which
favoured the Christian faith. He ordered that Friday and Sunday should
be honoured, the one because of the Cross of the Lord, the other because
of the Resurrection, and he ordered that no man should be condemned to
crucifixion. 4 He sent his mother to the Holy Places and, having found
the Holy Cross, she sent part of it and the nails to her son, and he put one 2
in a helmet to protect him, 3 and with another he embellished the bridle
of his horse, and he also ordered that its 4 picture should be on his solidi 5
and that the sign of the Cross should be engraved on them.

88 Constantine the Great

Constantine the Great, the first true Christian among the emperors,
reigned for thirty-one years and lived for sixty-five years. 6 He was
baptised in Rome by Sylvester and became a Christian. 2 Fearing the
Senate in Rome (this he did because of his belief in Christ), he left the city
on the pretext of going to war against the Scythians. He made Licinius
his brother-in-law through his sister, and then he appointed him emperor.
However, when some of Constantine’s men took refuge with Licinius
and were demanded back by Constantine as rebels, this was not granted.
Therefore, Constantine marched out against Licinius and fought him in
Paeonia. There he also saw the sign of the Cross in heaven, with the

1 From this point and until Chapter 102, § 12, the Church History of Theodoras Lector
(Anagnostes) constitutes a very important parallel to this text, with many cases of identical
wording.

2 Presumably a nail went into the helmet and the bridle, respectively, although, as far as
the Greek is concerned, it could refer to the Cross. See also following notes.

3 ‘helmet to protect him’: the text is corrupt, but I take it that the sense is clear.

4 ‘its’: this could suitably refer to either a nail or the Cross, both of which are known
from Constantine’s coins.

5 Greek vopiopaoi, from Constantine on the standard gold coin of ca. 4.5 g.

6 Constantine was born in (perhaps) 272 (which suits this calculation) and reigned
306-337. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 19-55), and the Chronicon
Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 6-22). Constantius Chlorus’ reign is not given attention
by Theophanes, and the reign of Constantine is given as thirty-two years, starting in the year
304/305.

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writing: ‘By this sign conquer.’ 1 And he made this sign in gold and put
it on a spear, and so he routed the enemy. Licinius retreated and fled to
Thrace. There, he was forced into battle at Philippoupolis, where he was
decisively and spectacularly defeated and so pacified. 3 After this, having
once again proved an enemy, Licinius was attacked at Adrianople and
defeated, and he came to Byzantium and crossed over to Chrysopolis,
where he was defeated once again; from there, he fled to Nicomedia.
Constantine’s sister comes to him [Constantine], and at her request she
is given her husband’s life as a gift, on condition that he should live as a
private individual. But Licinius seceded and went to Thessalonica, and
making a commotion there, he was killed by the army. At the time of
this Licinius, St Theodore 2 also suffered martyrdom. The war between
Licinius and Constantine lasted for eighteen years. 3 4 The peace which
had prevailed between the Persians and the Romans was dissolved for the
following reason: there was a certain Metrodoros, of Persian descent, who
pretended to be a philosopher. He went to India and the Brahmans and,
by showing great continence, he earned their respect. He also built water
mills and baths, which were not known [to the Indians] at that time. Since
he was considered pious, he was allowed to enter the inner sanctuaries of
the temples, and he took many precious stones and pearls from there. He
also received stones and pearls from the king of the Indians, to be given
as gifts to the emperor. But when he came back to Byzantium, he gave
them to the emperor as if they were his private gifts. When the emperor
marvelled at these, he said that he had sent others by the land route; these,
however, had been taken by the Persians. Immediately, Constantine writes
to Shapur and tells him that these should be sent to him. 4 On receiving
this letter, Shapur sent no response, 5 and for this reason the peace was
dissolved. From the stones that he had received, the emperor made a piece
of art 6 and sent it to the peoples on the other side of the Danube. It bore the
inscription: ‘A gift for the greatest.’ This inscription proved fatal for them.

1 In Theophanes, this sign appeared to Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (Mango/Scott
1997, p. 31). In Eusebios it is not stated where the emperor saw the sign.

2 This is Theodore Stratelates, high-ranking officer under Licinius and executed on his
command (cf. Chapter 121, § 4).

3 Tasted for eighteen years’: this is more or less a correct figure for the time from
Constantine’s accession in 306 until Licinius’ surrender in 324.

4 This is Shapur II, ruler of Sasanian Persia 309-379.

5 ‘sent no response’: or ‘did not send anything in return.’

6 ‘piece of art’: Greek £pyov (‘work’).

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5 It is said that Constantine was the first of all emperors to wear a crown,
and that he was adorned with pearls and other precious stones in a rather
elaborate way. He also had covers made for the Gospel in gold and with
pearls and precious stones, and he offered them to the Great Church as a
work worthy of admiration. He issued a law that the temples of idolatry
and their incomes should be handed over to the priests of the Christians,
and that only Christians should hold office or serve in the army. 6 In the
twentieth year of his reign the first Council of Nicaea took place, the one
against Arius. 1 7 From there he went to Byzantium, and he took all the
holy and famous fathers with him in order that they should bless the City
which he had founded. He had built a palace and a hippodrome and the
two delightful porticoes and the Forum, in which he erected a monolithic
pillar of porphyry which he had brought from Rome, and he bound it
with belts of bronze stretching around it, and he put up a statue upon it,
inscribed with his own name and with the additional text: ‘Because of his
rays, to Constantine, who shines like the sun.’ 2 This statue was the work
of Phidias and had been brought from Athens. He brought the remains
of the holy apostles Andrew and Luke and Timothy to Constantinople,
and he placed them in the Church of the Holy Apostles. 8 He then moved
against the Persians and, setting out from Nikomedeia, he arrives at
Pythia Therma. There he was taken ill, and he reached Charax by way of
Helenoupolis. 3 He was then overcome by violent fever and, in the ninth
year 4 after the founding and inauguration of Contantinople, he died. His
body was brought to the Church of the Holy Apostles and was put to rest in
the Heroon, which he had had prepared as a burial place for the emperors. s
He left three sons, Constantius, Constantine and Constans, having decided

1 I.e. the Council of Nicea in 325.

2 This is the famous Column of Constantine, or the Burnt Column (Cemberlita?). The
bronze belts referred to were wreaths covering the joints between the blocks of stone. Upon
this there was a statue of Apollo with Constantine’s features. The whole paragraph is a good
example of antiquarian lore with a basis in the monuments visible in Constantinople at the
time of writing.

3 All this is in Bithynia, at the Gulf of Izmit (Astacus), fairly close to Nicomedia.

4 ‘ninth year’: this is true with some inclusive reckoning (from 11 May 330 until 22 May
337).

5 In Antiquity, a Heroon is the shrine (often centred upon a cenotaph or a supposed

tomb) of a hero(s) worshipped as a founding figure of a city. In this case, the term refers

to the mausoleum prepared by Constantine and his family as a burial place at the Church

of the Holy Apostles. Considering Constantine’s status as founding father of the City, the
designation of his mausoleum as a Heroon is no doubt particularly fitting.

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that Constantius should have the region consisting of Thrace and the East,
Constantine the West towards the Ocean, and Constans, Crete, Africa
and the corresponding part of Illyria. 1 9 The 2 divine Constantine was
criticised in Byzantium by the pagan philosophers for not acting justly
and for deviating from the customs of the previous Roman rulers, and
for having changed the faith and introduced new elements. The emperor
then decided that one of the philosophers should dispute with Alexander,
the bishop of Byzantium, on faith. Alexander was not versed in rhetoric,
but he was a pious man and, on the day of the disputation, he said to
the dialectical philosopher: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command
you to be silent and not to speak.’ As soon as these words were uttered,
the philosopher was silenced and remained speechless. 10 Constantine
ordered Eusebios, of Pamphilos, 3 to prepare holy books 4 for the benefit of
the churches of Constantinople, and he furnished him with public means
for this. And, apart from the other holy books, he wrote 5 sixty books with
beautiful decoration 6 on deer skin. The divine Constantine builds the
Church of St Irene and the Church of the Holy Apostles and the Church
of St Mokios and that of Agathonikos the martyr, as well as that of the
Archangel Michael in Anaplous, and in Sosthenion, a place where he also
heard and saw divine omens in a wondrous way. 11 St Metrophanes was
the bishop of Byzantium before Alexander. 12 The emperor first started
to build a city to bear his name in the plain 7 in front of Ilium, on the site
of the grave of Ajax. 8 However, God ordered the emperor in a dream to
found his city, which pow is called Constantinople, at Byzantium instead.
But when he saw that the inhabitants of the City were few, he chose people
from noted families in Rome and other places, and he built large houses
which he bestowed on them, and he made them live in the City. 13 During

1 ‘corresponding part of Illyria’: there is a problem in the Greek text, and the translation
is hypothetical.

2 From here at the latest, the text consists of material that seems loosely added to the
main structure of the chapter, running from the accession of the emperor until his death.
There is also some overlap between the narrative before and after this point.

3 This is Eusebius of Caesarea (Eusebius Pamphili), the chronicler etc. (cf. above.
Chapter 35, § 5).

4 Or: ‘Bibles.’ Cf. on this the book covers mentioned in § 5 above.

5 Or: ‘had written’; probably, Eusebios is the intended subject.

6 ‘with beautiful decoration’ (ypdyai; fiipiXoK&Xqae): or ‘in beautiful calligraphy.’

7 ‘plain’: the text is corrupt here, but the meaning seems clear.

8 Or: ‘Aias.’ There were two Greek heroes of this name fighting at Troy. Presumably, this
is Ajax the Great, the Telamonian.

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Constantine’s reign many pagan peoples welcomed Christianity, from
the Celts and the Galatians in the West, but also 1 the innermost 2 Indians,
and bishops were sent to them by Constantine with the twofold purpose
of investigating their regions and of proclaiming the faith. Likewise,
the Iberians 3 as well as the Armenians become Christians; this started
with Tiridates, who was of Parthian descent. Persians likewise became
Christians during the time of Symeon, bishop of Ctesiphon; together with
him, also Ustaxades, the eunuch, who was the teacher of Shapur, 4 suffered
martyrdom.

89 Constantius

Constantius reigned for twenty-four years and Constans for seventeen
years, whereas Constantine died after a very short time. 5 He died in the
following way. Accompanied by a great military force, he went towards
his brother Constantius. 6 This he did in order to share some matter with
him, but it caused consternation in Constantius’ mind, and he feared that
his brother was coming against him with rebellion in mind. Constantius
had engaged bad counsellors who were inciting him to conflict and fear,
and thus to war, rather than diverting him from such thoughts; therefore,
he went out against Constantine. When battle is joined, Constantine is
found at the rear amongst the last of those fleeing, and is killed. Thus
Constans gained control of the whole of the West. 2 In the seventeenth year
of Constans’ reign, Magnentius, a rebel who had appeared in Gaul, killed
Constans in his sleep after a hunt. 7 On learning this, Constantius, who was
in Antioch, makes Gallus, his brother-in-law through his sister, caesar,
with the duty of managing the Western parts of the empire. He himself

1 The text is slightly anacoluthic, and the ‘from’ (in ‘from the Celts etc.’) is not followed
up.

2 ‘innermost’: Greek ol svodiEpoi, i.e. the people furthest into India.

3 I.e. the Georgians.

4 In this instance, the Greek form is Eapd>pio<; (otherwise IaPd)pt|<;).

5 Constantius II reigned 337-361, Constans 337-350, and Constantine II 337-340. Cf.
Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 55-76), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby
1989, pp. 22-36).

6 This should probably be Constans, see Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 58) and
others.

7 This was in 350.

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continued to fight the Persians; this was already his third campaign against
them. Gallus defeated Magnentius. Then he turns against Constantius, but
Constantius has him pacified with flattery and favours, and then has him
killed. 3 At first Constantius did not confer Gallus’ position on anyone,
but, when there was a great movement of the Persian army, he gave it to
Gallus’ brother Julian, whom he brought from Athens and made caesar.
In this, Constantius made no less of a mistake than in his championship
of Arius, which made him do a great deal of evil to Athanasios, bishop
of Alexandria, and Paul of Constantinople. 4 Having marched against the
Persians and learning that Julian was rebelling against him, Constantius,
who because of his constant worries had become ill from black bile, died
at Mopsou krene (this is situated on the slopes of the Tauros 1 ). Jovian,
who was a protiktor 2 at the time and who later became emperor, arranged
the transportation of his body and laid it to rest close to Constantius’
father’s body in the Heroon? 5 Weak-minded as he was, Constantius was
persuaded by Eusebios of Nicomedia to become an Arian and to remove
the word homoousios , 4 on the grounds that it was not attested. 6 On the
death of the patriarch Alexander, Paul the Confessor is elected. Paul
having been deposed, Eusebios, bishop of Nicomedia, places himself on
the patriarchal throne with the help of bribery. After him there was Paul
again, and after him Makedonios, the opponent of the Spirit, 5 who started
no less a persecution of the Christians than the idolaters. 7 Close to the
Church of Irene, Constantius founds the Church of God’s Wisdom, a most
beautiful church, but not of the same design or of the same beauty or
size as the one to be seen there now. 6 And he conducted the inauguration
ceremony of this church; this was when Eudoxios, the pupil of Eunomios,
was patriarch. 8 During Constantius’ reign St Ephraim the Syrian was
prominent in deed and word. He has left many useful writings to posterity.

1 I.e. in south-eastern Anatolia.

2 This was a Latin title, originally for members of an imperial bodyguard, later for
courtiers. Later in Byzantium protiktores are officers under the domestikos of the scholai.
Whether the author of this text is aware of the changing meanings of the term remains unclear.

3 This is the mausoleum at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople (cf. above,
Chapter 88, § 8).

4 The Arian creed claimed that the Son is subordinate to and not consubstantial with the
Father.

5 Greek jivsupaTop&xoi;: i.e. he supported a kind of Arianism.

6 I.e. the St Sophia (= (Church of the) Holy Wisdom), erected new during Justinian in the
sixth c.

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9 When the army killed the young(er) Dalmatius, 1 Gallus was saved
because he was ill and Julian because of his tender age. They were allowed
by Constantius to reside and be educated in a village close to Caesarea,
where Julian went about with his hair cropped short and pretended to
adopt monastic practices. Having both become readers in the Church the
brothers wanted to found a church dedicated to the martyr Mamas. But the
place that was allotted to Julian for building did not accept this.

90 Julian the Apostate

Julian reigned as emperor for two years; he had been a caesar for four
years and six months. 2 He was the cousin of Constantius. 3 He had been
brought up by Eusebios, the bishop of Nicomedia. He was short in stature
and to the highest degree able to control his need for sleep, food and sex.
But otherwise and with regard to religion he was of an evil disposition.
For, having been initiated to the Christian mysteries, he later disregarded
these and preferred the Hellenic belief, and he exchanged the true belief
for the bad, and virtue for wickedness and deviousness of the mind.
2 Julian opened the coffin of the Forerunner 4 and committed his bodily
remains to the fire and scattered the ashes. 5 The wicked sinner also
ordered the statue of Christ at Paneas, 6 the one put up by the woman with
the haemorrhage, to be torn down and taken away, and he put an image of
Zeus in the place of the image of Christ. 7 He also burnt the bodies of many
saints, not, however, with impunity. 3 For, when he went to war against the
Persians, he was tricked by the deserters to set fire to his boats. Having

1 This is Flavius Dalmatius Caesar, killed by soldiers in 337. He was the nephew of
Constantine I and the son of Flavius Dalmatius Censor.

2 This is, however computed, imprecise: Julian was caesar November 355-February
360, joint augustus until 3 November 361, and sole ruler until 26 June 363. Cf. for Julian’s
reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 76-83), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/
Whitby 1989, pp. 36-42).

3 They had a common paternal grandfather in Constantius Chlorus but different
grandmothers: Helena (in the case of Constantius) and Theodora (in the case of Julian)
respectively.

4 I.e. John the Baptist.

5 Several of the anecdotes in the following are known from Church historians, including
Eusebios and Theodorus Lector.

6 Greek sk6va, Paneas is Caesarea Philippi, in the Golan Heights.

7 The story about this woman is first told in Eusebios, Church History VII.18.

then marched for quite some time through deserted and hilly regions, his
army ran out of all necessary provisions, and all those who accompanied
him suffered much. When the time came for battle, Julian turns in flight
and is wounded by a spear and, with blood streaming through his nostrils,
he took the spear in his hands and brandished it in the air and said: ‘Be
satisfied, Nazarene!’ And thus his devious soul departed, and his body was
carried away to Tarsos. 4 At ! the death of Constantius, Julian became sole
ruler, and he shamelessly adopted Hellenism and washed off holy baptism
with the blood of sacrifices. He had Eusebios, the foremost of the imperial
eunuchs, 2 killed for wrongdoing, striving (indeed!) for a reputation of
righteousness. He even expelled all eunuchs from the palace and, out
of hatred of Constantius, he rejected his wife, who was Constantius’
sister. 3 He also expelled all cooks and barbers, and he prohibited the
use of camels, oxen, donkeys and mules for the public post; 4 he allowed
only horses to be used for this. 5 The same emperor issued a law that no
Christians should be allowed to be engaged in the teaching of Hellenic
learning. But Apollinarios, using the Holy Scriptures as his material and
imitating the style of all poets, wrote works by which the Christians could
be educated. 5 6 Having fortified himself with divination, sacrifices and
the fraud of demons, Julian marched against the Persians. It is at this time
that he is said to have received a prophecy worded as follows: 6

‘Now we, all the gods, have set out to gain trophies at the Wild Beast River. 7

I, furious Ares, will lead them on, raising the din of war.’

1 The following additional material aims at characterising Julian further.

2 Cf. the title of proteunouchos in Chapter 114, § 4.

3 ‘and, out... sister’: the Greek text is unclear and may be corrupt, and the translation
partly hypothetical. Cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 77; also Theodorus Lector 57.3-9.

4 8i||.i6oioq Spopoi;, cf. Latin cursus publicus.

5 As reported by Sozomenus ( Church History V.xviii; VI.xxv), father and son (both
called Apollinarios and here, probably, conflated into one person) were engaged in the
rewriting of the Bible so as to give it a more classical form and make it palatable for an
educated audience.

6 This oracle is also known from Theophanes (and older texts, such as Theodorus
Lector, see Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 82-83).

7 irapd ©rjpi jioxap§: Julian was mortally wounded in the battle of Samarra on the river
Tigris (with other words: An Appointment in Samarra).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

91 Jovian

Jovian reigned for eight months. 1 He confessed in front of the army that
he was a Christian. Julian knew about him. Once, when he walked behind
him, Jovian stepped on Julian’s cloak, and Julian turned to him and, seeing
no one but him, said: ‘If only it had been a human! ’ This Jovian was chosen
emperor by all the army, on the grounds that he was pious beyond any doubt
and mild and fair. 2 Having concluded a peace treaty with the Persians,
Jovian ate a poisonous 2 mushroom on the way home from Persia, and he
died. 3 Wishing to save the people left behind, Jovian was forced to cede
Nisibis, a very great and populous city, to the Persians. 3 The same emperor
said to the army, that ‘I am not able to command an army which has been
accustomed to the Hellenic religion during the reign of Julian.’ On hearing
this, the army confessed to him that they were all Christians.

92 Valentinian

Valentinian reigned for thirteen years. 4 Because of his righteousness, he
was praised and admired even when he made a display of severity. For
they knew that his severity was the result of thought, and he always gave
priority to justice, and he was not deflected from his course or dissuaded
by anyone when he had made up his mind about a matter. 2 Valentinian
was proclaimed emperor by the army after Jovian and, on being asked to
name an associate ruler, he said: ‘I will take the associate I want.’ On his
arrival at Nicomedia, he was asked by the magistrates about his choice of a
co-ruler. And Daglaiphus, a senator, replied: ‘If you love your kin, greatest
emperor, you have a brother; but if you love the empire, consider whom you
clothe in the purple.’ But Valentinian trusted nature most, and he appointed

1 Jovian reigned 27 June 363-17 February 364. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 83-85), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 42-44).

2 Or: ‘poisoned’ (jtE<pappaypdvov).

3 This is an additional anecdote, intended to further underline the piety of Jovian.

4 The total of Valentinian’s reign lasted from 26 February 364 to 17 November 375
(it should perhaps be noted that, for most of that time (from 26 March 364), he reigned
over only the Western part of the empire). Therefore, thirteen years can be accepted as the
correct number with inclusive reckoning (26.2-1.9.364 = year 1; 1.9-17.11.375 = year 13).
Cf. for Valentinian’s reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 85-97), and the Chronicon
Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 44-48).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

his brother Valens, and he gave the West to himself, having learnt about
an insurrection of some tribes there, and he gave the East to Valens. 3 As
far as ruling the empire was concerned, Valentinian had learnt from a
certain Sallustius that he would gain possession of it, and he promised that
if he should attain such power, Sallustius would have whatever he wanted.
However, when he had become emperor and was asked by Sallustius for
the office of eparchos according to his promise, he said that it was not right
for him to keep true to his commitment if this should bring harm to the
state. 4 During Valentinian’s reign, a certain woman had her property taken
from her by Rodanos, the praipositos .' The emperor gave judgement on
the matter, and he ordered the praipositos to give her back her belongings.
However, the praipositos did not obey. On learning this, the emperor asked
that the woman should come before him. She kneeled in supplication before
the emperor during races at the hippodrome and, when she had asked about
the matter and spoken of the praipositos' disobedience, the emperor ordered
that a great fire should be kindled in the Sphendone 2 and that Xht praipositos,
who was standing at his side, should be burnt there in his dress of office, 3 and
that all his belongings should be given to the woman. 5 This emperor also
razed the city of Chalcedon to the ground, and he built the great aqueduct
from its stones and brought water into the City. 6 Having defeated the
Sarmatians as well, and seeing their ambassadors coming, he asked if these
people were Sarmatians. And on learning that the best of them had come
to him, he was deeply distressed 4 and said: ‘It bodes ill for the Romans, if
such people deem it f fit to become ambassadors.’ It is said that his excessive
reaction caused a vein to dilate and an artery to burst, and that the resulting
haemorrhage led to the emperor Valentinian’s death. 5 7 Valentinian, who
was most orthodox, appointed Ambrose bishop in Milan, and it is said that
Ambrose censured the unjust magistrates during the time of this emperor.
8 The Goths treated Valens badly, and he asked the most divine Valentinian
to send an army to assist him. Not only did Valentinian not give him this, but

1 This anecdote, illustrating the righteousness of the emperor, bears a certain
resemblance to other stories about how emperors intervene against the magistrates on
behalf of humble individuals. See, e.g., below, Chapter 130, § 31, on a story about emperor
Theophilos and how he dealt with the theft of a horse.

2 Or: ‘Sphendon,’ a curved tribune at the hippodrome’s U-turn, where executions were
carried out.

3 peril row dpiplcov rfjg d^iag.

4 Or: ‘filled with anger’ (jtXrioOeii; Oupou).

5 This story is told in Ammianus Marcellinus XXX.6.

[

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

he even reproached him, saying that one should not defend a man who fights
against God. 9 During Valentinian’s reign, Basil and Gregory, 1 who had
been educated by Himerios and Prohairesios, famous sophists, flourished.
Basil and Gregory were also taught by Libanios, the sophist in Antioch.

93 Valens

Valens reigned for three years. 2 2 During his reign the Goths crossed
Lake Maiotis in pursuit of a deer and arrived in Thrace. There, they split
into two factions that fought each other. One of the factions asked for
an alliance with Valens. This was given to them, on condition that they
became Christians. This is why they became Arians on being baptised, for
this is what Valens was. When Valens after this was resident in Syria, the
Scythians 3 crossed over and penetrated to the City, showing no regard for
the peace treaty. Valens arrived and fought them but, being defeated, he
fled to Achyron, a village close to 4 Adrianople, and he was burnt to death
there. 3 Valens committed many atrocities against the orthodox: people
were burnt together with their ships at sea, or drowned, and exposed
to many kinds of torture. He plundered the whole Church and, having
done against Basil what the Theologian wrote about in the Epitaphios, he
came to Caesarea. 5 At this time also Galates, the son of Valens, and his
wife Domnika were grievously afflicted by illness. 4 And Demosthenes,
who was one of Valens’ cooks, on talking to Valens criticised Basil and
committed a linguistic error at which the teacher said: ‘See, we have even
seen an illiterate Demosthenes!’ 5 Valens had many people killed who
were suspected of aspirations to rule because their name began with the
letter theta. 6

1 Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, of Nazianzus.

2 Valens reigned as emperor of the East from 28 March 364, at first with Valentinian
as colleague in the West. From 17 November 365 to 9 August 378 he reigned (always in the
East) with Gratian as his colleague. Cf. for Valens’ reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 97-101), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 46-48).

3 I.e. still the Goths.

4 In fact, Achyron was the villa at which Constantine the Great died.

5 Valens was a champion of Arianism and therefore an enemy of Basil. The ‘Theologian’
is (cf. above) Gregory of Nazianzus, who wrote a funeral oration on Basil.

6 This superstition was alive in later times and was shared by emperor Maurice (see
below, Chapter 107, § 6).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

94 Gratian

Gratian, son of Valentinian, reigned for three years alone and for another
three years together with Theodosios. 1 For, having brought Theodosios
the Great from Spain in order to fight the Scythians who were plundering
Thrace, he appointed him emperor in Byzantium. He himself dwelled in
Rome. 2 A certain Briton called Maximus was greatly vexed at the fact
that Theodosios had been honoured with the imperial title by Gratian,
while he himself had not received any sign of honour. He therefore
stirred up the inhabitants of Britain to rise against Gratian, and he sends
Andragathios against him. Andragathios entered the City in a covered
litter after having spread a rumour that it was Gratian’s wife who was
coming. Overwhelmed by his love for his wife, Gratian went to the litter
and uncovered it. There, Gratian sees Andragathios, who immediately
had him killed by the soldiers. Gratian was transported to the imperial
mausoleum by Theodosios. 3 Gratian was able to shoot so accurately
and so far, that some people said that Gratian’s arrows had their own
mind. 4 During Gratian’s reign Meletios, patriarch of Antioch, was in
Constantinople and, on finding that Demophilos controlled the churches,
he brought Gregory the Theologian from Nazianzus in order to destroy
the Arian error.

95 Theodosios the Great

Theodosios the Great reigned for sixteen years. 2 He was Spanish by birth,
and he had a wife named Placilla, by whom he had Arkadios and Honorios.
When Placilla died, he married Gal la, Gratian’s sister. 2 And he marched
against the Scythians and killed all of them. And he had all the rebels in
Rome who had killed Gratian’s family executed, as well as Andragathios,
who had killed Gratian himself. 3 During Theodosios’ reign, the second

1 Gratian reigned (as senior emperor of the West, then of the whole empire) with his
brother Valentinian II, 17 November 375—19 January 379, then, together with Valentinian II,
as senior emperor of the West (having ceded the East to Theodosios) until 25 August 383.
Cf. for Gratian’s reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 100-101), and the Chronicon
Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 48-51).

2 Theodosios reigned 19 January 379-17 January 395. Cf. for his reign Theophanes
(Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 101-113), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989,
pp. 49-55).

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synod in Constantinople took place, 1 at which Gregory the Theologian
was expelled from the Church. 2 4 During Theodosios’ reign the head
of John the Baptist and the bodily remains of the holy martyrs Terence
and Africanus were brought to Constantinople, and they were deposited
in the Church of St Euphemia in Petra. The same Theodosios brought
the great Arsenios from Rome, having heard about his wisdom and his
knowledge of divine matters. And he committed his children, Arkadios
and Honorios, into his care to be taught the Holy Scripture by him. He
also made Arsenios basileopator. 3 When this Arsenios was praying to
God one night he heard a voice saying: ‘Arsenios, flee humankind and be
saved.’ 5 This Theodosios razed to the ground those Hellenic temples that
Constantine the Great had not destroyed but only ordered to be closed.
6 On his deathbed Theodosios makes Arkadios emperor in Constantinople
and of the whole East, and he has Honorios elected emperor of the West
to reign together with Placidia. Honorios had his palace in Ravenna,
whereas Placidia, the daughter of Gratian, resided in Rome. During their
reign Genseric 4 took Rome and made the empresses prisoners. 7 During
the time of Theodosios the Great, Gregory the Theologian taught the
orthodox in the church which is now dedicated to Anastasia, the martyr;
it was only a small chapel at that time. The historian 5 says that the large
complex was called Anastasia either because of the resurrection of the
true faith, or because of a pregnant woman who fell down there and died,
yet was resurrected by the prayer of the orthodox. 6 8 Theodosios ordered
Demophilos either to renounce his Arian error or to leave ecclesiastical
office. Thus he left the Church, which the Arians had dominated for forty
years. The synod and the emperor put Gregory by force and against his

1 This is the Second Ecumenical Council, of 381, also known as First Council of
Constantinople.

2 This is not quite correct: he resigned as bishop of Constantinople, but returned to
Nazianzus and resumed office as bishop there.

3 Basileopator (‘father of the emperor’) is an interesting title, vaguely suggesting the
role of protector of a young emperor. It is used in this text for Arsenios, Stylianos Zaoutzes
and Romanos Lekapenos (see Index of terms and concepts). It may be that the title was
invented no earlier than the ninth c., and that the present occurrence should be considered an
anachronism.

4 This is the Vandal king (Greek IXepixoq), who reigned 428-477.

5 This remark possibly hints at an influential chronographer used as a source. Cf. also
below, Chapter 107, § 3.

6 The name Anastasia being an adjectival form of the word ‘resurrection’ (Greek
dvdoxaoiq).

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will on the throne; for he had suffered much, and he had delivered the City
from the outrage of the heresies. However, on learning that the Egyptians
were envious on his account, the holy Gregory gave a valedictory speech
and withdrew from the episcopal see of his own free will, and Nektarios
was made patriarch by the emperor in his stead. 9 Theodosios brought the
body of Paul the Confessor 1 to the City and laid it to rest in the church
called St Paul’s, which Makedonios, who was Paul [the Confessor]’s
opponent, had built. During Theodosios’ reign Heliodoros, who wrote
what are known as the Aithiopika, was bishop of Trinke. 2 He also writes
the Poem of Gold, in iambic metre, to the same Theodosios. 3 10 Because
of the murders that had been committed in Thessalonica, 4 Theodosios
went to Milan together with a great many people, and with the hyparchos 5
and his son. There he is excluded from church for a long time by Ambrose.

However, after much prayer and demonstrations of repentance, he was
reluctantly received and, having offered the customary gifts, Ambrose
ordered him away from the altar area and instructed him in the duties of
priests and emperors. When Theodosios came to Constantinople he issued
an edict about this; the emperors who preceded him had stood within the
sanctuary. In Antioch, the statue of his wife Placilla was torn down in
protest against the extreme taxation. The emperor was infuriated on her
behalf and, although he threatened the city with complete ruin, he was held
back by the law on anger that Ambrose had made him write. 6 11 It was
also at this time that John Chrysostom, a presbyteros in Alexandria, wrote
the Andriantes? 12 When Theodosios dies in Milan, his body is brought
to the City by Arkadios and put to rest there.

1 This is the bishop of Constantinople already mentioned above (see Chapter 89, § 3).

2 The Byzantines were convinced that Heliodoros was a Christian and identified
him with a bishop of Trikkala in Thessaly (so Socrates, Church History V.22), although,
according to what is said in the romance itself, its author was from Emesa in Syria.

3 Or: On the Manufacture of Gold. This is probably an anachronistic reference to a later \

author, together with what is a misunderstood reference to Theodosios III (715-717).

4 A massacre perpetrated in 390 by Gothic soldiers at least formally under Theodosios’
command.

5 This title (more often than not confused with eparchos) can denote the governor of
a province. In this case, perhaps the magister officiorum (supervisor of imperial adminis¬
tration) Rufinus is intended (so Theophanes, see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 111).

6 I.e. that death sentences should be carried out only after a delay of thirty days: see
Codex Theodosianus 9.40.13.

7 These were homilies referring to the tearing-down of statues of the imperial family in
Antioch in 387.

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96 Arkadios

Arkadios came from Rome and reigned for twenty-two years; 1 he had left
Honorios in Rome. He set up his own military unit, which he called the
‘Arcadic.’ 2 He also raised the pillar at the Xerolophos, 3 placing his own statue
on top. He also founded a city in Thrace which he called Arkadioupolis.
2 During his reign, as a result of an intrigue by the augustar 4 Eudoxia and
the patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilos, John Chrysostom was exiled and
sent to Koukousos. 5 Having bid farewell to Olympias, daughter of Seleukos
the former eparchos, and to other pious 6 ladies, John left the church. And
immediately fire burst forth from the sanctuary and burnt everything. In
the same year, the Isaurians marched against the empire and pillaged the
land as far as Cappadocia. During the time of the same Arkadios the bodily
remains of the holy Samuel, the prophet, were also brought to the City, and
they were deposited in his chinch near Hebdomon. 7 3 Having fallen ill, the
same emperor dies. 4 At 8 the death of Nektarios, Arkadios brings John from
Antioch and makes him patriarch. John belonged to the nobility and was
held in high esteem, as even Libanios attested: for, when his pupils asked
him whom he would put at the head of his school in his place, Libanios
said: ‘John, if he had not been stolen by the Galilaeans.’ 9 Between John
and Epiphanios of Cyprus there was some bad feeling because of Eudoxia.
John told Epiphanios that he would die on a ship. Likewise, Epiphanios
predicted John’s death in exile. To his friends, who escorted him when he
set out, Epiphanios said: ‘I make haste, I make haste, leaving to you the
palace, the City and the show.’ 5 At the death of John, Arsakios is appointed
patriarch. 6 Gainas revolted against Arkadios and inflicted much evil upon

1 Arkadios reigned as junior emperor (caesar) to his father 383-395 and as senior
emperor ( augustus ) of the East until 408. It is difficult to see how twenty-two could be correct
here as number of years of his reign. Of. for Arkadios’ reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 113-124), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 55-61).

2 For this interpretation see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 115 (Mango/Scott: ‘the Arcadiaci’).

3 An area (hill) of Constantinople.

4 I.e. senior empress.

5 Present-day GOksun, Kahramanmara? Province, south-central Turkey.

6 ospvdi;.

7 A suburb of Constantinople (seven miles from the Milion in the City centre and
therefore called Hebdomon, ‘the seventh’); present-day BaktrkOy.

8 From this point, the chapter provides additional material, chiefly well-known anecdotes
about John Chrysostom.

9 I.e. the Christians. The story is told by Sozomenus, Church History VIII.2.

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the City. 1 However, when open war broke out on land and sea, he and his
followers perished.

97 Theodosios the Younger

Theodosios the Younger, son of Arkadios, reigned for thirty-three years. 2
On the advice of his own sister Pulcheria, and of Paulinos, who was a friend
of his, he married Eudokia from Athens, a most beautiful woman. 2 The
emperor went to the Great Church, where a beggar offered him a remarkably
large apple. On seeing this, the emperor together with the Senate marvelled,
and the emperor gave the beggar one hundred solid? and sent the apple to
the empress. She sent it to Paulinos, the man who had arranged her marriage,
who was ill. In his turn, Paulinos sent it innocently to the emperor when
he came back to the palace. The emperor recognised the apple and hid it
and, entering the palace, he asked the empress about it. She said that she
had eaten it. He asked her under oath of his own salvation whether she had
sent it to anyone. But she repeated that she had eaten it. Then the apple was
brought out, and there was great sorrow, and they were estranged from each
other. The emperor also had Paulinos sent for and killed. On hearing this,
the empress set out for the Holy Land, because she had been insulted, and
she dies there, in Jerusalem. When she was about to die, she swore solemnly
that she did not understand the accusation made against her with regard to
Paulinos. 3 The emperor Theodosios sent for the bodily remains of John
Chrysostom and brought them into the City and had them deposited in the
sanctuary of the Church of the Holy Apostles. During his reign, the bodily
remains of the saints Stephen and Lawrence were also interred. 4 4 The

1 Gainas was a Goth who served as magister militum in the East Roman/Byzantine
army. The revolt took place in 400 and led to the death of a great many Goths.

2 Theodosios II reigned 1 May 408—28 July 450—that is, well over forty-two years.
Forty-two is the number of years indicated by Theophanes and the Chronicon Paschale,
whereas Malalas (see Jeffreys et al. 1986, p. 91) has fifty years, seven months. However,
perhaps we should detract the period of rule of his sister Pulcheria (408-416), in which
case the computation of thirty-three years is more or less correct. Cf. for Theodosios II’s
reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 124-160), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/
Whitby 1989, pp. 61-80).

3 Greek vopiopata, the standard gold coin of ca. 4.5 g.

4 I.e. they were reburied in Constantinople. St Stephen is the Protomartyr, and
St Lawrence another early martyr (third c.).

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third synod in Ephesus 1 also took place during his reign, when the seven
children awoke who had fallen asleep in the time of Decius. 2 5 The king of
the Persians also went out against the Romans. The emperor sent Procopius
the stratelates 1 against them. The king of the Persians tells Procopius: ‘I am
willing to conclude a peace treaty for fifty years with the Romans, if a Persian
of my choice is defeated in single combat. However, if the man of your choice
is defeated in single combat by him, I shall receive fifty kentenaria 4 and all
the customary gifts.’ When this had been agreed upon, the Persian fighter
came forward. The stratelates chose Areovindos, komes of the foideratoi. 5
And they went out armed, on horseback, Areovindos holding a javelin. 6 First,
the Persian charged at him, but Areovindos escaped by twisting sideways,
and he struck the Persian with the javelin and then, throwing him from his
horse, killed him. Then the king of the Persians accepted the peace treaty.
On returning to the City, Areovindos was received with great honours by the
emperor, and he was promoted to hypatosl 6 The same emperor razed the
land walls of the City to the ground and, adding two other spaces in-between,
he built a new wall within sixty days. 7 After some time the emperor went
out riding, but his horse fell, and he was hurt and had to return to the City on
a stretcher. He then sent for his sister Pulcheria and told her about Marcian,
who was to reign after him: ‘For this,’ he said, ‘John the Theologian disclosed
to me when I was in Ephesus.’ And sending for Marcian he said to him in
the presence of Aspar and the Senate: ‘It has been revealed to me that you
will become emperor after me.’ 8 And two days later he died. 8 The 9 empress

1 This was in 431.

2 This is the well-known story of the Seven Sleepers (cf. above, Chapter 77, § 2).

3 Stratelates is a title with changing meaning in Byzantine sources. It can be synonymous
with strategos (military commander), or a Greek equivalent of magister militum, or, as may
be the case several times in this text, a modest honorary title.

4 I.e. 50x100 Byzantine litrai (‘pounds of calculation,’ cf. below, Chapter 127, § 1) of
gold, ca. 1,600 kg, or 360,000 gold solidi.

5 A komes is a (military) leader, in this case of the allies of the empire (or of a specific
military unit from the theme of Anatolikon).

6 o6Kioxpov.

7 This (i.e. Onatoi;) is translated as ‘consul’ above (cf. Index of terms and concepts).
Having once denoted the highest office in the Roman empire, this develops into an
increasingly insignificant title.

8 This is a short statement: an elaborate speech would have been appropriate.

9 From this point, additional material is given. Although Pulcheria ruled on her own, she
is not recognised as a ruler by being given a chapter of her own (cf. the similar case of Irene,
mother of Constantine VI, also denied a chapter of her own (see Chapter 124, especially § 21)).

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Pulcheria managed the empire in a most excellent way although she was
young. 1 She also taught her brother to live chastely, and she dedicated her
virginity to God and persuaded her sisters, Arkadia and Marina, to do the
same. 9 On the death of Arsakios, St Attikos is appointed patriarch. During
Theodosios’ reign Aspar and Ardabourios are made domes tikoi 2 of the East
and the West respectively. On the death of Attikos, Sisinios is made patriarch.
On his death Nestorios became patriarch. When he had been ousted, Proklos
is appointed patriarch instead of him. It was at this time that the body of
Chrysostom was translated to the City. 3 10 During Theodosios’ reign, during
the service in the Kampos, 4 a child was lifted into the air for several hours.
This child also heard a divine voice saying that one should not add the words
‘the one crucified for our sake’ to the trishagion; 5 however, these words are
sung to the present day. 11 The emperor Theodosios was extremely easy to
influence, and he was prone to listen to suggestions from people close to him.
He even signed documents without reading them. Realising this, his sister
Pulcheria cunningly smuggled a document into his hands by which his spouse
Eudokia was sold as a slave. This document he signed, but he was heavily
criticised by Pulcheria. 12 When Proklos died Flavian, a most holy man,
was made head of the Church. There 6 were four tribes of Goths: the Goths,
the Hypogoths, the Gepids and the Vandals. From these, 7 the Avars began to
cross into Roman territory. After the emperor Theodosios’ death Pulcheria
had Chrysaphios executed; he was a eunuch who had great influence over
Theodosios and was also a devoted follower of Nestorios. 8 13 The eparchos
of the City Kyros, a lmost learned and able man, built the City walls 9

1 This is an interesting statement: it is not said that she was competent ‘although she was
a woman,’ but rather ‘although she was young.’

2 A domestikos is mostly (and also in this case) a high-ranking military officer. See
further qualifications of the term in Index of terms and concepts.

3 Cf. above, § 3.

4 The Kampos tou tribounaliou or Field of Mars, a space outside the City used for
military rallies.

5 A prayer to the Trinity. See also Chapter 102, § 3, and Mango/Scott 1997, p. 207, n. 6
(with further references in index).

6 ‘There ... territory’: this is quite clearly a marginal note, which has crept into the text
at a secondary stage.

7 ‘From these’ (it mv): this is a little odd; perhaps ‘From these (regions),’ or ‘Of these.’

8 The patriarch mentioned above, § 9.

9 Cf. above, § 6, where the same building project is referred to. That the same story is
told twice seems indicative of the bad integration of additional material into the text.

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and, when the emperor was sitting in the hippodrome, the people 1 shouted:
‘Founded by Constantine, restored by Kyros.’ Kyros thus becomes an object
of envy, and he is falsely accused of being a Hellenizer. He is therefore
arrested and tonsured, and he is appointed bishop of Smyrna. 2

98 Marcian

Marcian reigned for six years and five months. 3 He was crowned by the
patriarch Anatolios. The same most divine Marcian married Pulcheria,
the sister of the emperor Theodosios. She was fifty-four years of age and
still a virgin. 2 During Marcian’s reign the fourth synod took place at
Chalcedon. 4 3 The bodily remains of the holy prophet Isaiah were also
brought from Paneas and came to the City, and they were deposited in the
Church of St Lawrence. In the third year of his reign Pulcheria died. She
founds the Churches of the Most Holy Mother of God, in Chalkoprateia 5
and in Blachemai. 6 4 Having been hurt in his feet Marcian fell ill and died
after five months. 5 When 7 on a military expedition, Marcian was taken ill
and was left behind in the city of Sydima. When he regained his strength,
he made friends with two well-to-do brothers. Going out hunting together
with them, at noon he lay down to rest and went to sleep. When the brothers
wake up, they see Marcian sleeping in the sun while an eagle hovers over
him. 8 They are struck by this, and they say to him when he wakes up:
‘If you become emperor, what will you give us?’ He did not believe what
they told him, but said nevertheless: ‘I will consider you as I would my
father.’ Then they gave him 200 solidi and sent him to the City, telling him
to remember them. 6 On entering the City, Marcian attached himself to

1 ‘people’ (Sfjpoi;): or ‘(circus) party factions’ (in which case, however, a plural form
would suit better). Cf. Chapter 108, § 5.

2 This is strange punishment for someone suspected of paganism. However, the passage
is a garbled version of its source (see Theophanes in Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 151-152).

3 Marcian reigned 25 August 450-27 January 457. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 160-169), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 81-84).

4 This is the Council of Chalcedon (Fourth Ecumenical Council), of 451.

5 At the area of the Copper Market, close to St Sophia.

6 In north-western Constantinople, later important for its palace complex.

7 From here on the chapter contains additional information.

8 Or: ‘he is covered by an eagle.’ This is one of several episodes where a glorious future
is predicted to somebody in a similar way. A closely parallel passage involving an eagle is
Chapter 116, § 2.

Aspar and Ardabourios. Then he went to Africa together with Aspar and
was captured. When Marcian was sleeping in the courtyard of Genseric,
an eagle once again came down and covered him. On seeing this, Genseric
first thought of having Marcian killed, since otherwise he would become
ruler. However, after considering the matter he came to the conclusion that
it is impossible to hinder God’s design, and he therefore made a peaceful
settlement with him and sent him away. 7 Flavian died during Marcian’s
reign, and Anatolios is made patriarch.

99 Leo the Great

Leo the Great, the Butcher, reigned for eighteen years. 1 He had been
promoted to the throne by Aspar and Ardabourios because of his
competence 2 and for being orthodox. For these two wanted to rule the
empire, but the Senate would not allow it since they were Arians. Then,
when he saw that they were not totally loyal to him but wanted everything
to be managed by themselves, the emperor Leo had them killed. Further,
Leo wrote a letter to Anthemios, the emperor in Rome, to the effect that ‘I
have killed Aspar and Ardabourios, lest anyone should oppose my orders.’
Makel is the Latin word for butcher. 3 2 During Leo’s reign, the robe 4 of the
Most Holy Mother of God was brought from Jerusalem. It had been found
by a most pious Jewish woman, a virgin, and it was brought together with
the bodily remains of St Anastasia, and it was 5 deposited in her sanctuary. 6
During Leo’s reign there was also the great fire at the Neorion, 7 which went
down all the way to the Church of St Thomas. During his reign, a layer
of dust, one span thick, also fell from heaven and was deposited on the
roof-tiles. 3 In the days of Leo there was also the holy Daniel, the Stylite,

1 Leo I reigned 7 February 457-18 January 474, i.e. eighteen years with inclusive
reckoning (counting a new year from 1 September each year). Cf. for his reign Theophanes
(Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 169-187), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989,
pp. 84-91).

2 Or: ‘virtue’ (dpETti).

3 Or: ‘slayer/murderer.’ This sentence may be a gloss.

4 Greek eoOii;, her robe otherwise being referred to as 6po(p6ptov (see Chapter 131, § 30,
and Chapter 136, § 32).

5 Or: ‘they were’ (if the remains of St Anastasia are included).

6 The robe was deposited in the Church of St Mary (St Soros) at Blachernai. The remains
of St Anastasia were deposited in a church built for the occasion.

7 This is a harbour area at the Golden Horn.

100

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in Anaplous. The emperor had great confidence in him. 4 Leo dies from
an illness. 5 During Leo’s reign Anatolios dies, and Gennadios is chosen
as patriarch. 6 Leo made Markianos oikonomos. 1 He belonged to the sect
of the Katharoi 2 originally, but had come over to the Church. During
the fire 3 he mounted the roof-tiles of St Anastasia with the Gospel in his
hand and thus protected the building from harm. 7 During Gennadios’
patriarchate the hand of the painter who depicted the Saviour as Zeus
withered; this man was healed by Gennadios through prayer. It is said that
the other way of depicting the Saviour, with short curly hair, is nearer to
the truth. 4 8 During Leo’s reign Stoudios founded the Church of St John
and placed monks there from the monastery of the Akoimetoi. 5 9 During
Leo’s reign the body of the prophet Elisha 6 was translated to Alexandria,
into the monastery of Paul the Leper. For he cured a leper, made himself
a leper and was put to rest in the monastery of the Leper. 10 During Leo’s
reign Isokasios, the quaestor , 7 was accused of Hellenism and was brought
before the eparchos of the city with his hands tied to his back. Poseos, the
eparchos, said to him: ‘Look at yourself, Isokasios, to what condition you
have been reduced.’ Isokasios said: ‘I see that, and I am not surprised. I
am a human and I have been struck by human misfortunes. May you judge
me as you judged together with me.’ On hearing this, the emperor felt pity
and released him. 11 During Leo’s reign, 1,300 years after the reign of
that Romulus who founded Rome, Romulus becomes emperor, and so the
empire, which started with a Romulus, ended with a Romulus; this was
when Odoacer, king of the Goths, seized power. 8

1 Person engaged in the management of an organisation (often a cleric in charge of
church or religious institution).

2 This may be a reference to Novatianism or, possibly, an anachronistic reference to the
Paulicians.

3 See for the same fire above, § 2.

4 This story is taken from Theophanes. It goes back to Theodorus Lector 107.21-24.

5 This is the famous Stoudios monastery, founded by Flavius Studius in 462. The
Akoimetoi (‘Monastery of the sleepless ones,’ so called because of the monks’ constant
recitation of the divine liturgy) was an already existing institution in the City.

6 Or: ‘Elissaios,’ mentioned several times above (see Index of names).

7 A high-ranking jurist.

8 Romulus Augustulus was made emperor 31 October 475, i.e. after the death of Leo I.
He was ousted from the throne in 476, this marking the fall of the Western Empire.

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101

100 Leo the Younger

Leo the Younger, his grandson, born from Zeno and Areadne,' reigned for
one year, 2

101 Zeno

Zeno reigned for seven years. 3 He was ousted from the throne by Basiliskos.
For, when Zeno was dwelling in Thrace, a coup was staged against him; this
coup was carried out by Verina in cooperation with Basiliskos, her brother,
and Armatos, 4 her nephew. Out of fear of them Zeno left Thrace together
with Ariadne and, bringing a sufficient amount of money with him, he flees
to a stronghold in Isauria. However, some years later Zeno, accompanied
by Ariadne, regained the capital, and he was welcomed back by the Senate,
and he put Basiliskos and Armatios to death. 2 During Zeno’s reign there
was a terrible earthquake in Constantinople, and many churches, secular
buildings and porticoes were razed to the ground. The catastrophe also
hit the city 5 of Nicomedia. 3 A certain Marianos predicted to him that ‘a
former selentiarios 6 is going to take over your throne as well as your wife.’
He therefore had a certain Pelagios, a patrikios 1 and former selentarios, a
most wise man, held in jail. On Zeno’s command this man was killed during
the night by the men set to guard him. 4 A short time after this, Zeno went
down with dysentery apd died. Zeno belonged to the Acephalite heresy. 8

1 Or: ‘Ariadne,’ see below, Chapter 101, § 1.

2 Leo II reigned 18 January-17 November 474. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 186-187), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 91-92).

3 This is not correct: it may be said that Zeno reigned for seventeen years (so some MSS
and also Theophanes and the Chronicon Paschale), 9 February 474-9 January 475 and August
476-9 April 491 (if we ignore the period from January 475 until August 476). Cf. for his reign
Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 187-210), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby
1989, pp. 92-98).

4 Or: ‘Armatios,’ see below.

5 jlTlTp67C0>4<;.

6 Courtier with responsibility for order in the palace.

7 Honorary title well attested since Constantine I.

8 This was a monophysite heresy originating in Alexandria in the late fifth c. Its name
derives from the fact that it was left without its original leader at an early date. That Zeno
died of dysentery was, perhaps, not considered a coincidence: he was a heretic and he
‘devoted himself to unnatural pleasures and unrighteous acts’ (see § 5).

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5 Zeno 1 devoted himself to unnatural pleasures and unrighteous acts.

6 During his reign the bodily remains of the apostle Barnabas were found
in Cyprus under a carob-tree. On his breast the corpse had the Gospel of
Matthew in Barnabas’ own handwriting. With this as a pretext, Cyprus
was made a metropolitan see independent of Antioch. Zeno deposited
this gospel in the palace, in the Church of St Stephen. 7 During Zeno’s
reign Perozes the Persian was defeated in battle by the Huns. 2 He took
from his right ear the extremely lustrous and excessively great pearl,
which he wore, and threw it away, lest anyone should wear it after him.
8 During the earthquake 3 the ball on the statue in the Forum 4 fell down,
as well as the statue of Theodosios the Great on the pillar at the Forum
Tauri. 9 On the suggestion of Illos, the magistros, the same Zeno exiled
Verina. Areadne exhorted Urvicius to kill Illos and, when Illos came up
to the hippodrome armed with his sword, Urvicius grabbed him and had
his right ear cut off. 5 Because of this he 6 tried to organise a rebellion
against Zeno.

102 Anastasios Dikoros

Anastasios Dikoros, the former selentiarios, also of the Acephalite
heresy, reigned for twenty-seven years. 7 2 During his reign Vitalian
from Thrace rebelled. Together with Thracians and Scythians he came
pillaging as far as Anaplous. Marinos, the hyparchos, fought a sea-battle
against him using Median fire and native sulphur (this had been prepared

1 From here (or from the previous sentence) additional information about the emperor’s
reign is given.

2 This is Sasanian king Peroz I, killed by the Hephthalites (or White Huns) at the battle
of Herat in 484.

3 Cf. above, § 2.

4 The statue of Constantine the Great, cf. above. Chapter 88, § 7, and below. Chapter
104, § 8.

5 'grabbed ... off’: the Greek is ambiguous and could mean that Urvicius had his own
right ear cut off. See, however, Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 196), from which it is
clear how the passage should be understood.

6 Illos.

7 Anastasios reigned 491-518. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 210-249), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 98-103).

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103

by Proklos, the philosopher), and he burned the barbarians’ ships. 1 But
Vitalian managed to escape and saved himself together with some few
others. 3 When the emperor, persuaded by Severos the Acephalite,
wanted to add to the trishagion the words ‘holy He who was crucified
for our sake, may He have mercy upon us,’ and the logothete 2 and the
hyparchos had mounted the ambo 3 in the Church to announce this,
there was a public uprising, and people shouted: ‘Another emperor for
the City!’ Burning many houses, creating much confusion and insulting
the emperor, they came to the cistern close to St Mokios, which this
very emperor had built. And killing the hegoumenos of the monastery
of St Philip, a man loved by the emperor, they mounted his head on a
spear and shouted: ‘This is the friend of the enemy of the Holy Trinity.’
They killed a woman, too, who lived in seclusion and whom the emperor
trusted, and they dragged the two bodies to the Stoudios monastery
and had them burnt there. This frightened the emperor in such a way
that he temporarily abandoned the heresy. 4 During Anastasios’ reign
Moundaros, 4 the leader 5 of the Saracens, was baptised by the orthodox.
However, Severos sent two bishops to him wishing to make him part
of his own heresy. Realising the absurdity of their dogma Moundaros,
feigning seriousness, said to them: ‘I have received a letter today that
the archangel Michael is dead.’ When they said that this is impossible,
he said: ‘So how, according to you, could God be crucified naked, if
Christ did not have two natures—if, as you say, not even an angel can
die?’ On hearing this, they were much astonished at the natural wit
revealed by his suggestion, and they retired in shame. 5 Anastasios, in
his dreams, saw a terrible apparition who held a book in his hand with
writing 6 and who said to him: ‘Behold, because of your lack of faith, I

1 For other examples of the use of liquid, or, as it is more often referred to, Greek fire
(an incendiary weapon employed in naval battles), see Index of terms and concepts. In the
present instance, the invention is credited to Proklos, whereas below, Chapter 113, § 4, it is
(taking that the same weapon is meant) credited to Kallinikos.

2 The title refers to different kinds of senior public servants, usually (at least at this time)
active at the court and heads of imperial departments. See also Index of terms and concepts.

3 This is an elevated platform, or projection, in front of the iconostasis in a church, from
which texts of the liturgy etc. were read out or political manifestations were made (for the
latter see, e.g., below, Chapter 133, § 3); i.e. a functional equivalent to the pulpit.

4 Or: ‘Alamundaros.’

5 (pfiXapxoq.

6 KcbSixa YeypappSvov.

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wipe out fourteen years of your life.’ And 1 while thunder and lightning
surrounded the palace, and the emperor was left totally alone and fled
from one place to another, the Fury overtook him in the small chamber
called the Oaton , 2 and there he was found dead shortly afterwards. 3 6 It
is said that he cried out some days after his burial: ‘Have mercy upon me
and open [the tomb]!’ But the guardians of the mausoleum said: ‘There is
another emperor now’; at which he answered: ‘I do not care. Send me to a
monastery.’ But they left him. It is said that the tomb was opened a short
time afterwards and that he was found to have eaten his arms 4 and the
boots he was wearing. 7 Since Anastasios was a heretic, Euphemios, the
patriarch, supported people who rebelled against him. On learning this,
and having overpowered the insurgents, the emperor Anastasios said to
the holy Euphemios: ‘Your prayers, Great One, have covered your friends
with soot.’ He then made Makedonios patriarch instead of him; on this
patriarch he inflicted much harm, since he did not yield to the emperor’s
heresy. For it is said that something terrible happened upon Makedonios’
death in exile: he is supposed to have made the sign of the cross although
he was dead. 8 Shortly before an earthquake in Neocaesarea 5 a soldier,
who was travelling on the road, saw two persons walking towards the
city and behind them another one who cried: ‘Take care of the house
where Gregory’s tomb is.’ 6 When the earthquake came, the greatest part
of the city was razed to the ground except for the part where St Gregory
was. 9 Anastasios melted down many bronze statues 7 and made a statue
of himself that he put on the pillar in the Forum Tauri. For the earlier
statue, representing Theodosios the Great, had fallen down and been

1 More consistent versions of this story are found in Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 248-249), Malalas (Jeffreys et al. 1986, p. 229), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/
Whitby 1989, pp. 102-103). This text has the interesting addition (as far as I know, unique)
about the emperor’s flight through the palace. However, there is a logical lacuna at the point
indicated here and, in contrast to the chronicles mentioned above, we are not told how anyone
could know about his dream.

2 The ‘Egg-chamber.’ This is somewhat problematic: it could be an (anachronistic)
reference to the domed hall, probably built by Justinian II, in which the Council in Trullo was
held (in 692). However, why this hall should be referred to as a ‘small chamber’ (KoitmviaKoc)
remains unclear.

3 aitpviSiov.

4 Or, perhaps, ‘the sleeves of his tunic.’

5 Present-day Niksar in Northern Anatolia.

6 I.e. Gregory the Theologian, of Nazianzus. On the house cf., perhaps, Chapter 95, § 7.

7 ‘statues (of living creatures)’ K<p8a).

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105

shattered by the earthquake. 10 During Anastasios’ reign a certain man
from the guild of goldsmiths, a clever man, indicated to money-dealers
and others hands and feet of statues and other items which were of pure
gold, and he told them that he had discovered a treasure. By this he
fooled many and reduced them to poverty. When his fame spread, he was
arrested and brought to Anastasios. He brought as a gift to the emperor
a horse’s bridle made of gold and covered with pearls. The emperor
accepted this, but said: ‘Truth is, you do not fool me.’ And he exiled
the man to a certain fortress where he also died. 11 During his reign
Deuterios, the bishop of Byzantium, who was an Arian, dared to say
while he was baptising a barbarian: ‘So-and-so is baptised in the name
of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.’ Upon which the
baptismal font dried up, and the barbarian, terrified, fled naked from the
place—which made the miracle known to everyone. 12 During the reign
of Anastasios two bishops, one orthodox and one Arian (the Arian was
a dialectic philosopher, whereas the orthodox was pious and a faithful
Christian), were holding a discussion. The orthodox one suggested that
they should abandon the discussion and step into a fire, and thus it would
be shown who was the truest Christian. When the Arian refused to do so,
the orthodox one entered the fire alone and continued the discussion from
there without being hurt. 1

103 Justin the Thracian

Justin the Thracian, the Great, reigned for nine years. 2 He was a superb
military man and a warm supporter of the orthodox faith. 2 He also made
the afore-mentioned Vitalian his friend and honoured him with the title
of stratelates and allowed him the right to speak his mind in front of the
emperor. However, Vitalian was killed by the inhabitants of Byzantium;
they were enraged with him because of the rebellion mentioned earlier. 3
3 Amantios the praipositos , 4 who built and had decorated the Church of

1 Cf. to this (the Book of) Daniel, Chapter 3, where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
are sent into the fiery furnace but remain unscathed.

2 Justin I reigned 518-527. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 249-265), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 103-108).

3 See above. Chapter 102, § 2.

4 Here perhaps the head chamberlain (the functions of which were later fulfilled by the
parakoimomenos).

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St Thomas the apostle, is said to have given money to the same Justin
who was a homes of the exkoubito? under Anastasios, in order to have
Justin proclaim his cousin Theokritos emperor. Justin had Amantios
killed together with those who had planned the rebellion with him, and
he seized the throne himself. 4 To Justin’s reign belong the occurrences
concerning St Arethas and the people in the city of Negra, as well as
the actions undertaken by Elesbaas, king of the Ethiopians, against the
Himyarites. 1 2 5 During Justin’s reign an edict was issued that we should also
celebrate the feast of the Hypapante? 6 During his reign a star appeared
in heaven, above the Chalke Gate of the palace, 4 shining for twenty-six
days and nights. And there was a terrible earthquake, and Constantinople
suffered damage at various places. But the great city of Antioch suffered
indescribable damage, and almost all of the city collapsed and became the
grave of its inhabitants. For such was the wrath of God upon them, that
fire even came out of the earth and painfully consumed the survivors. The
earth also opened in the middle of Pompeiopolis in Moesia, and the city,
together with its inhabitants, was swallowed up, and the people who were
under the earth cried from below: ‘Have mercy upon us!’ 7 During Justin’s
reign, a gigantic woman from Cilicia also appeared. She was taller by one
cubit than any tall person and very broad—so much so that people paid
her an obol 5 per person to watch her in workshops and public buildings.
8 The same emperor showed great concern for the city of Antioch, helping
with its reconstruction and supporting its survivors. So grieved was the
emperor for the city that he even set aside his diadem and the porphyra, 6
and dressed in sackcloth and ashes and mourned for several days. 9 Justin
died and left his nephew Justinian as emperor. 10 Justin recalled all priests
and pious orthodox men who had been unjustly exiled by Anastasios.
11 During his reign the city of Edessa was flooded by the river Skirtos
which flows through the middle of the city and provides riches and
enjoyment to it. The flood drowned the city and its houses. When the flood
receded, a stone slab was found on the river bank. It was inscribed with

1 Leader of an imperial elite guard unit.

2 Ella Atsheba, or Kaleb of Axum, was an Ethiopian king (reigned ca. 520-540) who
invaded the Himyarite kingdom of Jemen in defence of the Christians living there. Arethas
was the leader of the Himyarites, and Negra a city.

3 Celebrating Jesus’ presentation at the Temple and Mary’s purification.

4 Copper Gate: the main entrance of the Great Palace.

5 Generically for a small coin: the ancient obolos was not in use at this time.

6 An imperial dress.

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hieroglyphics, reading as follows: ‘The Skirtos river will leap with evil
leapings for the citizens.” 12 A certain Eulalios had been a rich man but
had died poor. He had made Justin his heir in his will and had entreated
him to take care of the upbringing of his three young daughters who had
been left behind, and give them a dowry. Eulalios had also begged the
emperor to pay all his debts to his benefactors and to save his personal
papers. Justin fulfilled all this in a way befitting an emperor and, in doing
so, amazed everyone who heard about the matter.

104 Justinian

Justinian reigned for thirty-nine years. 2 He made a procession in the middle
of the City 3 and distributed a great amount of largesse. 2 He made the
Novels, and he also published an edict about bishops, managers of hospices,
oikonomoi and managers of orphanages, namely that they should not be
able to bequeath anything other than what they had before they started
in their profession. 4 3 He also completed the public bath at Diegesteus, 5
begun by the emperor Anastasios. 4 Antioch did not stop shaking until it
was revealed to a pious man that one should write on the lintels: ‘Christ
[is] 6 with us, stop!’ This done, God’s wrath stopped, and from then the
city was called God’s city. 7 5 During Justinian’s reign there was a public
uprising, and the people burnt down St Sophia and the colonnades leading
to the Forum. 8 They insulted the emperor Justinian and hailed Hypatios
and crowned him at the kathisma 9 in the hippodrome. This uprising was
checked by Belisarios, Moundos and Narses, who killed 35,000 people as
well as Hypatios himself in the hippodrome. 6 Justinian rebuilt the Great

1 This is a kind of wordplay in Greek. Skirtos means the ‘leaping/jumping (river).’

2 Justinian I reigned 527-565. Cf. for Justinian I’s reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 265-354), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 108-137).

3 I.e. on becoming emperor.

4 Similarly Malalas (Jeffreys et al. 1986, p. 249) and Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
p. 267 and p. 269, n. 22).

5 Or: ’Dagistheus,’ an area of Constantinople named after a certain Dagistheus, probably
an Ostrogothic hostage of the late fifth c.

6 ‘is’: or, possibly, ‘be.’

7 ©souaoXig.

8 These were the so-called Nika riots in 532, which almost cost Justinian his throne and
neck.

9 The imperial box.

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Church of God 1 so as to be more beautiful and bigger than before, and he
provided a troparion 2 to be sung in it: ‘The only begotten Son and Word of
God.’ The feast of the Hypapante 3 also started to be celebrated, which had
not before been counted as one of the dominical feasts. 4 7 During his reign
there was also the fifth synod, the one against Severos. 5 In his tenth year
the first inauguration of the Great Church took place and, after the death of
Theodora, his wife, there was the inauguration of the Church of the Holy
Apostles. 6 8 During his reign there was also a plague in Constantinople,
so that people who died remained unburied, for there were not enough
stretchers in the churches and the houses 7 to carry them away. The emperor
had a thousand stretchers made. When these proved insufficient, he ordered
that as many waggons as possible should be prepared together with horses,
in order to carry away the dead on these. 8 This deadly disease continued for
two months, July and August. 9 There were also much loud and terrifying
thunder and lightning, and many people were burnt to death, and there
was a great earthquake, too, which affected the whole world. And in
Constantinople many houses and churches collapsed, and many people
were killed. The walls at the Golden Gate 10 also fell down, as well as the
lance carried by the statue in the Forum. 11 And the earth continued to shake
for a long time. Because of his grief, the emperor walked uncrowned in the
processions of the birthday of Christ and of Holy Epiphany, 12 and he did
not give the customary banquets during the twelve-day period in between,
but distributed everything to the poor. It is said that the sea receded two
miles because of the earthquake and that many ships were destroyed by
the back-flow of the water. Also, the dome of the Great Church collapsed.

1 I.e. St Sophia; on the first church at the same site and with the same name, see above,
Chapter 89, § 7.

2 An early form of Byzantine hymn.

3 Cf. above, Chapter 103, § 5.

4 I.e. a feast in honour of Christ.

5 This looks like a conflation of two events: the 536 condemnation of Severos (cf. Mango/
Scott 1997, p. 315) and the fifth synod, taking place in 553 (cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 334).

6 The original Church of the Holy Apostles was erected by Constantine I and inaugurated
around 330.

7 Or: ‘institutions’ (oTkoi).

8 ‘carry ... these’: i.e. to the cemeteries outside the City walls.

9 The plague is generally dated to 541-542.

10 A gate towards the southern end of the City land walls.

11 The statue of Constantine the Great, cf. above, Chapter 88, § 7, and Chapter 101, § 8.

12 Or: ‘Theophany’ (fiyia 0so<pdvia).

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The emperor had this rebuilt higher and stronger, and he held a second,
more splendid and brilliant, inauguration ceremony of the same church. 1
9 When Justinian heard about men engaged in homosexual practices, he
investigated the matter and, having found the people, in some cases he
had their genital organs cut off, in some cases he ordered that sharp reeds
should be introduced into the openings of their genitalia and that they
should be paraded naked in the Forum. Among these, there was a great
number of public figures, senators and not a few members of the higher
clergy. Having had their property confiscated and been led naked round
the Forum in this way, these people died a pitiable death. This caused
great fear, and the rest was chastened. For, as they say, ‘may the pine-tree
cry when the cedar falls.’ 2 10 Justinian also set up the column called
Augusteus; 3 on top, he put an equestrian statue of himself. In its left hand
the statue was holding a spherical apple, as if he had conquered the whole
world. Its right hand the statue held upright as if pointing at the Persians
and calling: ‘Stand still and do not tread on Roman soil.’ 11 Justinian also
sent Belisarios, the strategos, with an immeasurable number of men and
with ships and much gold to wage war on the Vandals and to lay Africa
waste. When Belisarios, through shrewdness and sense, had ravaged
everything, he laid hands on Gelimer and brought him back to the City
together with great wealth, and he held a triumph in the hippodrome, and
he distributed largesse in the City. On this occasion, Justinian had solidi
struck with his own picture on the one side and that of Belisarios, armed,
on the other, and with the legend: ‘Belisarios, the Glory of the Romans.’
However, what envy has been wont to engender in cases of great luck, it
brought forth against Belisarios, too. For he was slandered, and he was
removed from the power and the glory, and Solomon was sent out as
strategos instead of him. However, when Solomon was unable to hold
on to what Belisarios had acquired, he ceded everything to the Vandals.
12 There was a certain coppersmith called Andreas who had a tawny,
blind dog that performed tricks. Without showing this to the dog, Andreas
took rings (these were made of gold and silver and iron) from people in
the crowd standing around him, and he put the rings on the ground and
covered them with earth. And he gave a command to the dog, and the dog

1 This refers to St Sophia. Several earthquakes in the 550s damaged the structure,
especially the dome. The rededication of the church took place 23 December 562.

2 Zechariah 11.2.

3 This was between the Great Palace and St Sophia.

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dug out the rings and gave each back to its owner. Likewise, the dog was
able to sort different emperors’ solidi by name when they had been mixed
up. But he was also able to indicate, from the men and women standing
there, who were pregnant or prostitutes or adulterers, and who were pitiful
people and who were miserly. All this he did correctly and, therefore, it
was said that he had a spirit of divination. 1 13 The same emperor had
very many remarkable building projects carried out, of churches as well
as cities; he also had the five-span bridge over the Sagaros river 2 built.
Prokopios, the historian, wrote about these building projects in eight
books. 3 14 Towards the end of his life, Justinian inspired the dogma about
the corruptible and the incorruptible, a dogma alien to the true belief
in God. 4 Justinian died having made his nephew Justin, who was then
kouropalates , 5 emperor. 15 Gelimer escaped from Belisarios and fled to a
mountain stronghold of the people of the Marousioi. Among these, neither
bread nor wine nor olives are produced, but, like unreasoning animals,
they eat barleycorns and rice-wheat boiled. Therefore, Gelimer writes to
Faras, whom Belisarios had left as his guard, and asks him to send him
bread, a sponge, and a cithara. Faras was at a loss about this, until the man
who carried the letter told him, that ‘he asks for bread because he wants
to taste it and see it again, a sponge because of his tears and because
he is unwashed, so as to soothe his eyes, and a cithara to sing about his
misfortune.’ On hearing this, Faras was deeply upset, and he bewailed
human fate, and sent Gelimer everything he was asking for. 16 When
Chosroes the Persian was ravaging the whole of the East, Justinian brought
Belisarios from the West and made him strategos of the East and sent him
against the Persians. When he had taken up arms and marched against the
Persians, Belisarios impressed the ambassadors of Darius 6 so much by the
weaponry employed and by his army (he showed himself to them when he
had gone on what was allegedly a hunting expedition), that they went to

1 'spirit of divination’: TtvsOpa n60o>vo<; (cf. Acts 16.6).

2 The Sangarius river (present-day Sakarya) in north-western Anatolia.

3 These are the Peri ktismaton, or Buildings of Justinian.

4 This is the so-called aphtartodocetist heresy, a kind of monophysitism maintaining the
incorruptibility of Christ’s body. For further reference see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 321 with n.

5 Originally designating an official responsible for the construction and maintaining of
palaces, it may have been a purely honorary title at this time.

6 At this time Chosroes I ruled (see above). Perhaps the name of Darius is here used
generically for ‘the Great King.’ Cf. Chapter 86, § 2, where it may be that the name of Shapur
is used in a similar way, i.e. generically for a (Sasanian) ruler.

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Chosroes and made him accept a truce with the Romans. So much did the
Persians as well as the Romans admire Belisarios, and he reached a fame
that could only be matched by what he achieved when he brought Gelimer
as a prisoner and Vittiges, the two kings, to Byzantium. 1 After this, he
was accused of plotting against Justinian, the emperor, and he dies from
grief and has all his property confiscated.

105 Justin

Justin reigned for thirteen years. 2 He was generous and fond of building.
He had a wife named Sophia. Being pious and orthodox he embellished
the churches built by Justinian, that is, the Great Church and that of the
Holy Apostles, with treasures and vestments, and he gave them all kinds
of income. 2 When the factions were rioting, the same Justin went up to
the hippodrome, and he told the blue party, ‘for you, emperor Justinian is
dead,’ and the green party, that ‘for you, emperor Justinian lives on.’ On
hearing this the factions became quiet. 3 The same Justin also builds the
palace of Sophianai, an extraordinary and glorious and most admirable
building, and he named it after his wife. 3 He also had works carried out on
the island of Prinkipos, which was his suburban property, and had a palace
built there too. The same Justin also built the Church of the Holy Apostles
Peter and Paul in the Orphanage. 4 It was also he who added the two apses
to the Church of the Blachemai, so as to make it cruciform. 4 Narses, the
koubikoularios, 5 was loved by the emperor, and for this reason he was
slandered in front of the emperor by those accustomed to see something
suspicious in everything. 6 The emperor sent Narses to Alexandria against

1 The text is corrupt here, and the translation uncertain. Cf. Theophanes: ‘The Romans
praised Beiisarius for having gained greater glory from this achievement than when he had
brought the two emperors Gelimer and Vittigis as prisoners of war to Byzantium’ (Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 320-321).

2 Justin II reigned 565-578. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 354-369), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 137-138).

3 This was on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus (probably present-day Cengelkoy) and
not the same palace as that mentioned below, § 6.

4 Close to the Acropolis point in Constantinople (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 362, n. 1).

5 A eunuch appointed to the emperor’s bedchamber (or a lady appointed to an empress’s
bedchamber, see Chapter 124, § 18 ( koubikoularia )). It may be that there is no distinction
from koitonites (see Chapter 131, § 7).

6 ‘by ... everything’ (Greek 6tt6 xcov eicoObwov focoi; rtdvxa uitovoeTv): this is vague.

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enemy forces, and he acquitted himself in a most excellent way. This
Narses had the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God built, in which the
bodily remains of the holy martyrs Probos, Tarachos and Andronikos were
also deposited. 5 The emperor sent Tiberios, the komes of the exkoubitoi,
against the Huns, who were on the move and were pillaging the Thracian
part of the empire. After this, Justin was taken ill and, having adopted
Tiberios as his son, he proclaimed him caesar. 6 He also builds the palace
in the Harbour of Julian and names it after his wife, Sophia. 1 He cleaned
the harbour and erected two statues of himself and his wife in the middle
of it, and he renamed the harbour after Sophia [as well]. 7 Being weighed
down by illness the emperor summoned the patriarch 2 and the whole of
the Senate, and brought Tiberios forward and declared him emperor in the
presence of everybody. And he said as follows: ‘It is God Himself, not I,
Who made you a good man and Who gives you the position of emperor.
Honour Him, so that you may be honoured by Him. Do not delight in
bloodshed. Take no part in murder. Do not requite evil with evil. Do not
lose your temper with anyone, like I have done. I did this, and I suffered
defeat and was then repaid according to my crimes. I beg you to judge me
in God together with those who suggested these crimes to me. 3 Do not
be elated by the honour of your imperial title. Treat everyone as yourself.
Realise who you were and who you are now. Do not be arrogant against
your kin; thus you will avoid sinning. You know who I was. And what am
I now, being face to face with death? All these people around us are your
slaves and your children. Pay attention to the army. Do not appoint anyone
who is cowardly and without good sense. Do not let them persuade you,
that “your predecessors did it this way.” I recommend this to you and I
exhort you out of my own experience. Those who have riches should be
allowed to enjoy them and profit by them. To those who do not have you
should, if they are good people, be generous. You know that I preferred
you to my own kin. Honour and respect your mother, who was once your
empress. For earlier you were her slave, now you should be like a son to
her.’ When the emperor had said this, and the caesar had fallen to his feet,
the emperor added: ‘Ifyou wish, I am; ifyou do not wish, I do not live. God,

1 This is close to the area of the Great Palace of Constantinople, on the Marmara Sea.

2 Eutychios.

3 ‘I beg... to me’: this is hardly correct. Better (but less lenient towards other parties) is

Theophanes: ‘But I shall bring to justice before Christ’s tribunal those who have done that to
me’ (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 368).

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Who made heaven and earth, has put other things into your heart which I
have forgotten to tell you.’ So Justin died, and Tiberios succeeded to the
throne. 8 During Justin’s reign Narses founds the so-called Monastery of
the Katharoi, and he builds a most beautiful church. Justin also renovates
Valens’ great aqueduct. He also builds another aqueduct, the so-called
Adranes, and he furnishes the City with an abundance of water. 9 During
Justin’s reign John Nesteutes is appointed patriarch. 1

106 Tiberios

Tiberios reigned for four years. 2 2 When he went up to the hippodrome, the
factions 3 cried: ‘Let us see, let us see the augusta of the Romans.’ And he
declared: ‘The church opposite to the communal bath of Diegesteus bears
the same name as the augusta' Then the factions chanted: ‘Long live the
augusta Anastasia!’ But Sophia, Justin’s wife, was hurt in her feelings. For
she did not know that he already had a wife, and she had made friends with
Tiberios under Justin, and persuaded Justin to make him emperor because
she wanted to marry him and remain augusta. However, Tiberios had Sophia
removed to the palace in Julian’s harbour, and he ordered that koubikou-
larioi and others should wait upon her and keep her under surveillance. But
he honoured her like a mother and ensured her every comfort. 3 Tiberios
also built the public bath in the Blachernai, and he renovated many churches
and hospices. 4 Tiberios,sent Maurice and Narses against the Persians.
Maurice returned after a major victory, and the emperor received him with
great honours and made him his son-in-law. He married his other daughter
to Germanos, and he made Maurice as well as Germanos caesars. 5 Having
eaten early sycamore-figs, remarkable to look at but poisonous, 4 Tiberios,
when on the point of death, had Maurice proclaimed emperor.

1 This is not correct: John IV was appointed in 582, long after Justin’s death.

2 After having been appointed caesar 7 December 574, Tiberios became augustus 26
September 578, and died 14 August 582. Cf. for Tiberios’ reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott
1997, pp. 369-374), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 138-139).

3 pepr|.

4 Or: ‘poisoned’ (jtecpappaypEva).

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107 Maurice

Maurice reigned for twenty years. 1 He had a brother-in-law called
Philippikos who founded a monastery in Chrysopolis in his own name.
He had been appointed stratelates by Maurice and, together with the
armed forces, he marched against the Persians and, with Herakleios, the
strategos, he performed many brave acts against them. 2 Maurice builds
in the Karianos district, 2 and he erects the portico in it, and he has his
achievements depicted there. He also issued an edict for the performance
of the liturgy 3 to the Most Holy Mother of God in Blachernai and for
the procession, and he had the public bath in Blachernai completed. He
is also the founder of the Church of the Forty Holy Martyrs dose to the
Staurion. 4 3 During Maurice’s reign the Chagan, the leader of the Avars,
broke the peace treaty and marched into Thrace and destroyed many
Roman military units. The emperor went out against him and when he
came to Daonion, 5 in that same night a woman was giving birth there, and
she uttered piteous cries. The emperor sent someone forth to find out what
had happened, and he saw a child born without eyes and eyelids, who had
neither hands nor arms, and who had a fishtail growing from the hip-joint.
In the outskirts of Byzantium too, one child was born with four feet, and
another with two heads. People who write history 6 say that it signifies
no good for the cities in which such children are born. On the same day
the emperor’s horse collapsed and died. 4 The emperor considered these
incidents as forebodings and he returned to the City sending Priskos, his
own son-in-law, against the Scythians 7 with the whole army. These forces
defeated the Scythians but then turned against the emperor. Maurice, the
emperor, became angry with them and, since war was imminent between

1 Maurice reigned 582-602. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 374-418), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 139-143). An
outstanding source for Maurice’s reign is Theophylact Simocatta (Whitby/Whitby 1986).

2 Ta Karianou: this was in the region of Blachernai, and there was also a palace there.

3 Or, perhaps, ‘litany’ (Greek ktnjv).

4 As stated in the text, this Staurion is situated close to the church of the Forty Holy
Martyrs. It may be one of two locations in the City with this name, and it may be a courtyard
off the Mese, deriving its name from the column of Phokas (so A. Berger, Untersuchungen
zu den Patria Konstantinupoleos, Bonn: Habelt Verlag, 1988, pp. 316-317).

5 Close to Heraclea in Thrace.

6 ‘People who write history’ (oi 3s t bq iaropiaq ypdqtovreO: obviously a category that
does not include the author of this text. Cf. above. Chapter 95, § 7.

7 In this case, the Avars.

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the Romans and the barbarians, the emperor suggested to the strategos to
whom the army had been entrusted that he should betray the soldiers to the
enemy because of the insurrection they had contemplated against him. This
indeed happened. A large number of men were captured, and the Scythians
brought them to be ransomed by the Romans. But the emperor told the
Chagan to release them without ransom paid. The Chagan declared on his
part: ‘I give everyone back to you if I get one solidus for each.’ When the
emperor did not accept this, the barbarian demanded a half solidus for each.
When the emperor did not accept even this, the barbarian was infuriated
and had 12,000 men executed in the Kampos tou tribounaliou. 5 For this
reason, and from this moment on, everyone began to hate Maurice. But
he repented and, considering the judgement that is to come, he preferred
to suffer the consequences of his sin in this world and not in front of the
dread tribunal. 1 And he sent supplicatory letters together with great gifts
to the patriarchal thrones, to hermitages and monasteries that they should
pray for him that he should suffer punishment in this world. 6 He had also
committed a sin earlier against his brother-in-law Philippikos because of
the letter phi. For it was said that such a person 2 would succeed Maurice
as emperor. However, Philippikos had sworn solemnly to Maurice that he
was not guilty of what was implied by the suspicion. 7 While Maurice was
praying to God to be freed from his sin, he saw the following in a dream,
namely that a great crowd was standing in front of the icon of Christ at
the Chalke Gate of the palace and that a voice came from the icon, saying:
‘Bring Maurice unto me.’ Aijd they brought him there and placed him there,
and the divine voice says: ‘Maurice, where do you want me to give you what
you deserve, here or in the time to come?’ Trembling, Maurice answered:
‘Kind Lord, here and not there.’ And at once, the voice ordered that he and
his wife and children and all his relatives should be turned over to Phokas,
the stratelates. 8 Waking up, Maurice sent his parakoimomenos 3 at once to
bring Philippikos to him. On seeing the parakoimomenos coming at such
an hour, Philippikos despaired of his life and asked for Holy Communion.

1 The way in which, in the following, the story of Maurice’s sins and fall is told seems
rather convoluted, and it may be that the text mirrors several sources that have not been
worked into a consistent whole.

2 I.e. a person whose name began with the letter phi. Cf. to this superstition above,
Chapter 93, § 5.

3 The highest-ranking official guarding the emperor’s bedchamber, usually a eunuch (an
exception to this rule is Basil I). It has been suggested that the mention of a parakoimomenos
for Maurice may be an anachronism (cf. Theophanes 285.7 (= Mango/Scott 1997, p. 410)).

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He then went to the emperor, leaving his wife wailing in sackcloth and
ashes. Coming to the emperor, Philippikos fell at his feet. The emperor
asked the parakoimomenos to leave, and he himself fell at Philippikos’ feet,
saying: ‘Forgive me, brother, for I have sinned gravely against you. For I
suspected that you were plotting against my life. But now I have realised
that you are innocent. Hence, I beg you to tell me if you know of a stratelates
called Phokas in the tagmata." Philippikos said: ‘I know of one, who some
time ago was sent away from the army and who spoke against you.’ And
the emperor said: ‘What is he like?’ And Philippikos said: ‘Cowardly and
insolent.’ And the emperor said: ‘If he is cowardly, he can be a murderer
too.’ And so the emperor told Philippikos about his dream. And Philippikos
said: ‘See, My Lord, how God is not stopped by a letter if He wants to
give the throne to someone!’ 9 Then the magistrianos , 2 who had been sent
away, arrived, and he carried an answer from the holy men: ‘God saves
your soul, and He accepts your repentance, but you will leave this earthly
life in great pain and anguish.’ On hearing this, Maurice thanked God from
the bottom of his heart. 10 Sophia, the wife of Justin, and Constantina,
the wife of Maurice, had a crown 3 made for the emperor, extraordinary
and very valuable. Having seen this and admired it, Maurice took it to the
church on the day of Holy Easter and offered it to God. 4 11 When autumn
came, the emperor wrote to Peter, the strategos, and ordered him to winter
in Sclavonia. 5 6 But the people opposed this and, as a consequence, the
leading officers gather the crowds at one place and promote Phokas, the
stratelates, to emperor. When Peter and the other leading officers came to
the City and told the emperor this, Maurice, who was aware of the people’s
hatred against him, stripped himself of his imperial robes (this was in the
middle of the night) and embarked on a dromon 6 together with his wife
and children, and tried to evade the insurrection of the people. However,

1 The tagmata were, at least later (eighth or early ninth c.), elite guards stationed around
Constantinople. It could be that the term is used here anachronistically or in a less technical
sense.

2 Member of the staff of the magister officiorum, often used for carrying messages (see
Mango/Scott 1997, p. 363, n. 7, and p. 415, n. 23).

3 axSppa.

4 I.e. it was deposited in St Sophia (cf. Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 406f.). It is
related that emperor Leo IV took the crown and decided to wear it, with disastrous results
(see Chapter 123, § 9).

5 This is probably in Macedonia/Greece (cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 669, n. 2).

6 A fast warship (‘runner’).

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although he with difficulty reached St Autonomos, 1 he was not able, as had
been intended, to take refuge in a fortress. For suddenly he is attacked by
violent fits of arthritis that immobilise him. 12 Phokas was greeted by the
people and entered the City and the palace. He sent his son Theodosios to
Chosroes, the king of the Persians, to remind the king of the services he
had rendered him, and that Chosroes had control over the Persian kingdom
thanks to him. 2 Chosroes gathered the Persian forces and marched against
the Romans under Phokas, and he destroyed many Roman cities and
villages.

108 Phokas the Usurper

Phokas the Usurper reigned for eight years. 3 He crowned Leonto, his wife,
augusta. 2 When Phokas went to the chariot races and there was some
dispute as to the seating of different groups, the factions cried: ‘Maurice
is not dead! He lives! Ask him!’ Then the accursed man moves towards
murdering Maurice. And Maurice was brought in chains to the harbour
of Eutropios. 4 As a preliminary punishment the bloodthirsty man orders
that Maurice’s five sons should be slaughtered in full view of their father.
Maurice bore this misfortune with equanimity and kept repeating: ‘Thou
art righteous, O Lord, and righteous is Thy judgement.’ And when the
family’s nurse stole away one of the five children and put her own in its
place to be killed, Mauriqe protested and called for his own child to be
fetched and killed. Then Maurice himself was executed, and the wretched
Phokas ordered that their heads should be set up in the Kampos tou
tribounaliou. And the inhabitants of the City went out and looked at them,
until they started to smell; then Phokas allowed them to be handed over to
Maurice’s friends. 3 Shortly after, Maurice’s wife and her three daughters
were falsely accused of plotting against Phokas, so he had them executed
at the mole of the Eutropios harbour. Indeed, the lawless man had everyone
related to Maurice executed. 4 Following this, Philippikos was tonsured
and took up service in Chrysopolis and lived there quietly until he died.

1 Close to Nicomedia.

2 This is a little unclear, or downright confused: Theodosios was the son of Maurice, and
the acting subject should be Maurice (who had helped Chosroes).

3 Phokas reigned 602-610. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 418-427),
and the Chrorticon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989, pp. 143-152).

4 At Chalcedon.

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And from that time a constant sequence of all kinds of disasters befell the
state. Chosroes the Persian broke the peace; and the Avars pillaged Thrace
and destroyed both the Roman army camps there; and a most severe winter
came which made the sea freeze and the fish die. 5 Phokas put on chariot
races, but in the evening he had drunk a lot of wine and was slow to appear,
and the people 1 cried: ‘Wake up, Phokas! Once again you have drunk from
the cup; once again you have lost your mind.’ At this he went mad, and he
had many people maimed and many people’s heads cut off. But the mob
set fire to the praitorion, 2 and all the prisoners there got out and escaped.
6 The same Phokas builds an armamenton 3 close to the Magnaura palace, 4
and he placed there a column he had built with his statue on top. 7 His
son-in-law Krispos, the patrikios, who could not bear any longer to see
the unrighteous murders and the horrible acts committed under Phokas,
wrote to Herakleios, who was strategos of Africa 5 and who had a fleet at his
disposal, to move against the usurper Phokas. 6 This Herakleios equipped
many ships and an army, and he arrived from Africa at Constantinople.
He also brought with him the Acheiropoietos icon of Our Lord and God. 7
And when fighting broke out in Sophia’s harbour between [the forces of]
Phokas and Herakleios, the accursed man was defeated and fled to the
palace. 8 A certain Photinos, whose wife had been seduced by Phokas,
entered the palace together with soldiers. He ejected Phokas dishonourably
from the throne, and he stripped the wretched man of the imperial dress
and dressed him in a black tunic and put a collar around his neck 8 and
brought him in disgrace to Herakleios who, on seeing Phokas, said: ‘This,
you wretched man, is how you ruled the state.’ Phokas said, despairingly:

1 ‘people’: or ‘(circus) party factions’ (Greek Sfjpoi;). Cf. Chapter 97, § 13.

2 The city eparchos' residence that also contained a prison.

3 This was probably an arsenal for the building of ships for the imperial navy. Cf.,
however. Chapter 122, § 14, in which case the term denotes a stable.

4 The Magnaura (or Manaura), i.e. ‘Magna Aula,’ was (perhaps) originally the Senate
House. It was a large building close to the Chalke Gate and St Sophia, and it was used for
receptions and ceremonies. Later, it also came to accommodate a school (see Chapter 130,
§35).

5 This is Herakleios the Elder, exarch of Carthage, who then sent his son, also named
Herakleios, with a fleet to Constantinople.

6 From here and until Chapter 122, § 15, the Short History of the patriarch Nikephoros
constitutes a parallel text of some importance (cf. Introduction).

7 I.e. an icon not made by human hand. Later on, the same icon is taken out by Herakleios
(see Chapter 109, § 6).

8 As one did with prisoners.

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119

‘May you rule better and more justly.’ Then Herakleios ordered that first
Phokas’ arms and legs should be cut off and that then his shoulders should
also be amputated, and his genitalia should be cut off and put on a stake,
because of the countless wanton acts which he had committed; and then his
head should be cut off and what was left of the infamous man’s body should
be dragged to the so-called Forum Boarium and consigned to the flames.
9 It is reported that in the days of Phokas a holy monk used to dispute with
God and to say repeatedly: ‘My Lord, why did You give the Christians such
a lawless emperor?’ An unseen voice came to him saying: ‘Since I could
not find a worse one to match the wickedness of the inhabitants of the City.’

109 Herakleios

Herakleios reigned for thirty years. 1 The patriarch Sergios crowned him in
the chapel of St Stephen in the palace. His fiancee Eudokia was crowned
augusta also together with him and, with the marriage crown added, he was
made a bridegroom as well as emperor. He was proclaimed emperor in the
Great Church by all the Senate and the people. Krispos, Phokas’ son-in-law,
helped him and advised him in this. 2 Shortly after, the emperor made
Krispos strategos of Cappadocia, and sent him out, showing him many signs
of favour. However, on arriving there Krispos started to slander Herakleios
and to plan an uprising against him. When Krispos came back to
Constantinople, 2 the emperor had the accusations against him written down
on paper 3 and, in the presence of the Senate, he hit him on the head [with
them] 4 and said: ‘You miserable man, you did not make a [proper] son-in-law;
how then will you make a true friend?’ He then made Krispos a cleric and
exiled him to the Chora monastery, in which he also died. 3 The Persians
occupied Cappadocia, Damascus, and Palestine and the Holy City, and they
killed many tens of thousands of Christians with the help of the Jews. They
also imprisoned Zacharias, the patriarch of Jerusalem, and they took the
Holy Cross and carried it off to Persia. Likewise, they occupied Egypt, Libya
and all land as far as Ethiopia. They came to Chalcedon and occupied it. The

1 Herakleios reigned 5 October 610-11 February 641. Cf. for his reign Theophanes
(Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 427-475), and the Chronicon Paschale (Whitby/Whitby 1989,
pp. 152-189).

2 The Greek here is a little problematic but the meaning seems clear.

3 ‘paper’: Greek xdpTOt), i.e. papyrus.

4 The meaning is here a little uncertain.

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emperor Herakleios sent ambassadors to Chosroes and asked for peace.
Chosroes, however, sent them away, saying: ‘If your emperor renounces the
crucified one and worships the sun, then I will make peace.’ 4 The Avars also
made an expedition against the City and, when Herakleios sent ambassadors
to them asking for peace, they agreed to this. The emperor then went out to
the Long Wall 1 with a large baggage train to meet the Chagan and, having
received pledges from him and having concluded a truce, he rejoiced with
him. However, the Chagan rescinded the treaty and the oaths, and marched
suddenly against the emperor treacherously. The emperor barely managed to
return to the City, whereas the barbarian took the whole of the imperial
baggage and retinue and then turned back, pillaging the whole of Thrace in
the hope of achieving peace. 2 Once again the emperor sent ambassadors to
the Chagan, reprimanding him and exhorting him to peace. And the Chagan
was embarrassed by the benevolence shown by the emperor and made peace
with him. 5 Having celebrated Easter emperor Herakleios wanted to march
out against Persia. For this he had taken money 3 from the holy institutions 4
and vessels from the churches, and he had struck solidi and miliaresia. 5
Chosroes sent a great force with Saitos as commander against the Romans,
and so he laid the whole East to waste. Saitos came to Chalcedon and
besieged it for a long time. And he called Herakleios to him and, feigning
friendliness, he talked to him about peace. Trusting his treacherous words,
Herakleios sends seventy noblemen with him to Chosroes as ambassadors.
Chosroes received these dishonourably, and he brought them in chains to
Persia. Chosroes ordered that Saitos should be flogged, on the ground that he
had seen Herakleios and not apprehended him, and he condemned the
ambassadors to imprisonment and hardships. As a result the emperor was
struck by great dejection and sorrow. Then Chosroes sent another leader on
a new expedition against the Romans, a man called Sarbaros, and he came to
Asia [Minor] with a very great force and ravaged Roman territory. 6 When
the emperor Herakleios, as has been mentioned, intended to march against
Persia, he said the following to the patriarch: ‘I entrust this City and my son

1 The so-called Anastasian Wall in Thrace, some sixty-five kilometres from the City,
stretching from the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea.

2 Or rather: a more favourable peace (however, it is likely that the form of the text is due
to a less than careful treatment of a source).

3 Or: ‘valuables’ (xpxjpaTa).

4 sbaydiv oTkcdv: for the passage cf. Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 435).

5 I.e. gold and silver coins respectively (cf. on their relative value Chapter 121, § 18,

with n.).

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into the hands of God and the Mother of God, and to you.’ And he entered
the Great Church and put on black shoes 1 and said his prayers. On seeing
him humbling himself so much, George the Pisidian 2 said: ‘Emperor, having
dressed in black shoes, you will dye your foot red with Persian blood.’ The
/emperor took the Acheiropoietos icon of God-man 3 in his hands. He then
7 started on his campaign against the Persians, going by boat through the
Black Sea. He took many Turks and many men from other peoples with him
as allies, and he set out against the Persians with a very great force. 7 The
Avars dissolve the truce and approach the wall of Byzantium, setting
everything outside the City on fire. 4 And as if they had made a division
between themselves, the Persians ravaged the East, and the Avars destroyed
everything in Thrace. Although the citizens were worn out and in despair,
when they joined battle with the Avars, with the help of Bonos, th spatrikios,
and Sergios, the patriarch, they slaughtered many thousands of them, set fire
to their ships, and drove them back to their own country. 8 On learning of
Herakleios’ approach Chosroes joined battle with him often, but because of
God’s assistance the Persians were always totally defeated. When the
emperor was approaching his city, 5 Chosroes sent one satrap with 30,000
hoplites against him. When battle was joined, all these were killed. But the
Persians who were left and had escaped raged against Chosroes, and they
shut him into one of the royal palaces, and they put gold and silver and pearls
and precious stones before him, saying: ‘Eat these, and enjoy the things for
which you brought the Romans against us.’ And thus they punished him with
famine and thirst and let him die. 9 But Herakleios destroyed the cities of
Persia, and he tore down the fire temples 6 on which the abominable
representation of Chosroes was found, placed on the house ceiling as if in
heaven. Chosroes had the stars and the sun and the moon painted there, and
himself surrounded by angels, and he had arranged for artificial thunder and
for it to rain when he wished. The emperor razed all of this to the ground and
made it into dust. On hearing this, Sarbaros, who happened to be on Roman
territory, writes an apology to Herakleios, saying that ‘it was against my

1 Instead of the red ones otherwise worn by the emperor.

2 Poet and contemporary of Herakleios who wrote about the emperor’s expedition
against the Persians in 622.

3 I.e. Christ.

4 This is the Avar attack of 626 .

5 Ctesiphon.

1990 p U 57) Q Th ' S PaSSage ' S Cl ° Sely paralleled in Nikephoros’ Short History (see Mango

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wish, but on the decision of Chosroes, that I acted as I did against the
Romans.’ The emperor then wrote a friendly letter to him and summoned
him. Thus Sarbaros came to the emperor who was in Persia. But when the
emperor asked for his ambassadors and learnt that they had been killed in a
terrible way by Chosroes, he was filled with anger and he showed no mercy
but killed and burnt and destroyed the whole of Persia for six years. In the
seventh year he brought the Holy Cross from Persia to Jerusalem and raised
it there. He then returned in joy and peace to Constantinople. 10 During
Herakleios’ reign Muhammad, the leader of the Saracens, appeared. He
came from Yathrib 1 and he, together with many of his people, met with the
emperor and asked for a place to live, which was given to him. I consider it
necessary 2 to say something about Muhammad’s background. 11 Muhammad
stemmed from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. For, Nizaros, the descendant of
Ishmael, has two sons, Moundaros and Arabias. These had many children,
and they settled in the Madianitis desert. They also traded with their camels.
Being poor and an orphan, the already mentioned Muhammad entered the
service of a rich woman named Chadiga, who was his relative; he was to take
care of her camels and to engage in trade. But after a short time he felt greater
freedom, and he became intimate with the woman and married her. In that
way, he received her camels and her wealth as his own. 12 Coming to
Palestine, Muhammad associated with Jews and Christians, and he sought
out their writings. 3 The ailment called epilepsy befell him and, on realising
this, his wife was very distressed. She grieved over the fact that she had been
joined to a man who was not only poor, but also an epileptic. But he tries to
comfort her by saying, that ‘I see a vision of an angel called Gabriel, and it is
because I cannot support that sight that I fall down.’ But she had a friend, a
monk, who was exiled there because of false beliefs, and she told him
everything, including the name of the angel. At this, he reassured her and
said: ‘He is telling the truth, for this is the angel who is sent to all prophets.’
Thus the woman was persuaded by the false father, who belonged to the
Kallistratos monastery. He had been thrown out of the City because of his
heretical beliefs, and he preached to women of the same tribe [as Muhammed
belonged to] that Muhammad was a prophet. Thus this heresy was generally

1 I.e. Medina.

2 ‘I consider it necessary’ (or: ‘I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary,’ Greek
avayKaiov r|Yr|<j&pr|v): this is reminiscent of the way in which the story of the rise of Basil I
(Chapter 131, § 8) or the death of evildoers (Chapter 132, § 2) is introduced.

3 ‘writings’ (Greek nva ypaxpiKd): or ‘matter that he could write about,’ or ‘scriptures,’

referring to the Bible.

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123

accepted in the region of Yathrib. 13 Muhammad dogmatically decreed to
his subjects that whoever kills an enemy or is killed by an enemy will enter
paradise. He said that paradise was a place of carnal food and of intercourse
with women, and that the intercourse was continuous and the pleasure lasted
for a long time, together with other reckless and foolish statements.
14 Muhammad left Abu-Bakr as his successor. And, after having been
forced into skirmishes by the Romans very often, the Arabs won a decisive
victory, 1 and from that time on they had the better of the Romans. 15 Let us
now go back to the main story. Having accomplished this, Herakleios
returned to Constantinople. Hearing of his approach, the inhabitants of the
City, because of their unrestrained love for him, all went out to the palace of
Hieria 2 together with the patriarch and Constantine, the emperor who was
his son. They carried olive branches and torches to welcome him, and they
hailed him. And his son stepped forward and fell at his father’s feet, and
Herakleios embraced him, and they kissed each other, with tears in their
eyes. And having thus received their emperor, they hailed him and entered
the City rejoicing. 16 This Herakleios was deceived by Athanasios, the
patriarch of the Jacobites, and by Sergios the Syrian, the patriarch of
Constantinople, and he fell into the heresy of the monotheletes. 3 Later he was
struck by hydropsy, too, from which he died. He was punished in a terrible
way. For the ailment had gone so far that, when he wanted to urinate, he had
to press a board against the abdomen; for his genital organ turned upwards
and sent the urine towards his face. This was punishment for his lawlessness,
because of his most lawless marriage with his own niece. 4

110 Constantine, Son of Herakleios

Constantine, son of Herakleios, reigned for one year. 5 He is killed with
poison by his own stepmother.

1 Or: ‘started to achieve victories.’ If a specific victory of the Arabs is on the author’s
mind, it could be the battle of Yarmouk in 636.

2 Or: ‘Heria,’ at the Asiatic shore opposite of the City.

3 Monotheletism is the doctrine of the one will of Christ’s human and divine natures.
This is a monophysite development, condemned as heretical in 681.

4 This is the Martina mentioned below (see Chapter 111, § 1, etc.).

5 In actual fact, Constantine III reigned just over two months as senior emperor (11
February-20 April or 24/26 May 641). Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997
p. 474).

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111 Heraklonas

Heraklonas reigned together with his mother Martina for four months. 1 But
the Senate rejected Heraklonas, and they had his nose slit and Martina’s
tongue cut out, and they sent them into exile. 2 They promoted Constans,
the son of Constantine, grandson of Herakleios, to the throne.

112 Constans

Constans reigned for twenty-seven years. 2 During a selentior? he said to
the Senate: ‘My father Constantine reigned for some time with his father,
my grandfather Herakleios, during his father’s lifetime, but only for a very
short time after his father’s death. For, the envy of Martina, his stepmother,
removed him from life to benefit Heraklonas, who was bom illegally from
her. Now, thanks to your and God’s decision she has been removed with her
child, so that the empire of the Romans should not be ruled by people of
illegitimate and illegal descent. 4 1 beg you to be my counsellors and friends
and the examiners of my rule.’ Then, honouring them with gifts, he dismissed
them. 2 During Constans’ reign there was a violent storm that tore up many
trees and threw down pillars and crushed ships. 3 Also Mauias, the leader of
the Arabs, reached Rhodes. Having got control of 5 the Colossus of Rhodes
he had it pulled down, 1,360 years after its construction. The Colossus
was bought by a Jewish merchant who loaded its bronze onto 700 camels.
Mauias came with his ships to Phoinike, 6 where the emperor Constans lay
in waiting with the Roman fleet, intending to fight a sea-battle with Mauias. 7
In the night the emperor dreamt that he was in the city of Thessalonica.
When he woke up, he recounted his dream to his dream interpreter, who
said: ‘My emperor, I would that you had not slept during this night and that

1 Heraklonas reigned together with Constantine III from February 641. The four months
may refer to his period as sole ruler (20 April—September of the same year). Cf. for his reign
Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 474-475).

2 Constans II reigned 641-668. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 475-491).

3 A solemn meeting of emperor, his advisers and the Senate.

4 The text is here a little problematic, but the meaning suggested seems plausible.

5 ‘got control of (aapaXapdjv): or ‘come to.’

6 Phoinix in Lycia (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 482).

7 ‘intending ... Mauias’: or, possibly, vice versa, i.e. that it was Mauias’ plan to fight the
emperor.

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125

you had not dreamt! For that you were in Thessalonica is to be interpreted as
“give someone else the victory.” 1 The victory goes to your enemy.’ And so
it happened. When they clash, the Romans are defeated. The emperor saves
himself with difficulty and returns in shame to Constantinople. 4 Unable to
change the saintly Maximos 2 to his own heretical belief, this Constans had
his tongue and his hand cut off. He also sent St Martin, the pope of Rome,
into exile. 5 After this, Mauias, the leader of the Arabs, sent ambassadors to
Constans proposing a peace treaty. Mauias did this because the Arabs had
rebelled against him, and he suggested that the Arabs, to achieve the peace,
should pay a daily tribute to the Romans of 1,000 solidi, one horse, and one
slave. But Constans did not accept this. 6 Constans left Constantinople and
moved to Syracuse in Sicily. He wanted to move the seat of government
to Rome since he was hated by the inhabitants of Byzantium for being a
monothelete and a heretic. Although this was against his will, he left his
three sons and his wife in the City. 7 Constans was murdered in Syracuse in
Sicily washing himself in the bath-house. He was hit on the head with ajar
by Andreas, and he died. The Syracusans proclaim Nizizios the Armenian
emperor, a dignified and most beautiful man.

113 Constantine, Son of Constans

Constantine, son of Constans, reigned for sixteen years. 3 When he learnt
about the murder of his.fathcr, he went to Sicily with a very great fleet and
captured Nizizios and all of his father’s murderers and had them decapitated.
He did the same with Justinian, the patrikios, the father of Germanos who
became patriarch. But Germanos, who was a rather violent man, he made a
eunuch. This emperor was called Pogonatos, for he had departed beardless
to exact revenge for his father, but returned with a beard. 2 Having returned
to Constantinople he reigned together with his brothers. However, when they
tried to plot against him, he prevailed, and he had the noses of Herakleios
and Tiberios slit, and he sent them into exile. 3 During his reign a great

1 In Greek: 0{;c tf|v viktiv, i.e. a combination of syllables very much reminiscent
of the name of the city. A similar interpretation, involving the name of the city of Tyros, is
recorded above, Chapter 46, § 19.

2 This is Maximos the Confessor.

3 Constantine IV reigned 15 September 668-September 685. Cf. for his reign
Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 491-506).

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Arab fleet, with very many units, 1 went out and reached Kyzikos and came
as far as the Golden Gate and the Kyklobion. 2 With regular skirmishes taking
place, they wintered in the bay of Kyzikos for seven years, as they made war
upon Constantinople. But by the grace of God they were defeated by the
inhabitants of Byzantium, and their wretched 3 fleet returned home. During
their retreat, when they were once more forced to join battle by the strategos
of the Kibyrrhaiotai, 4 they were defeated, and their ships were burnt by liquid
fire. For Kallinikos, an architect from Helioupolis in Syria who was a refugee
with the Romans, had invented liquid fire, and he burnt the Arab ships and
destroyed them, men and all. Thus the Romans, thanks to the invention of
the liquid fire at that time, returned in great triumph. 5 4 The Mardaites 6 came
to Lebanon in Syria and gained control of it. This greatly terrifies Mauias,
and he sends ambassadors to the emperor suing for peace and promising a
yearly tribute. The emperor receives the ambassadors and then sends them
back together with John Pittigaudes, the patrikios, to talk to the Arabs. For
John was adorned with great experience and good sense. The Arabs came
to admire his good sense and his astuteness, and they agreed to furnish the
Romans a yearly tribute of 3,000 [.. .] 7 of gold, 8,000 prisoners, 8 and fifty
thoroughbred horses. It was agreed that this tribute should be paid for thirty
years, and so a general peace prevailed between the Arabs and the Romans.
5 Likewise, the Scythians who lived in the West, the Chagan and the kings
from more distant regions and the kastaldai, 9 sent gifts to the emperor and
sued for peace. The emperor accepted this and confirmed the peace. And so,
great tranquillity ensued in the East as well as the West. 6 Under this emperor

1 KscpaXai.

2 A suburb on the European shore of the Marmara Sea, present-day Zeytinburnu.

3 0eoPu0ioro<; crtdkoi;: ‘(to be) sunk by God.’

4 Kibyrrhaiotai was a thema, i.e. a division of the Byzantine empire and/or the military
forces therein. Kibyrrhaiotai was primarily a naval organisation, and it was stationed at the
southern coast of Asia Minor.

5 The invention of Greek, or liquid, fire is credited to Proklos above, Chapter 102, § 2.

6 An obscure group of Christians (sometimes identified with Maronites) in the border
area between Byzantium and the Caliphate. Below, § 8, a Mardaite tagma (military unit), in
the service of the Byzantines, is mentioned.

7 Theophanes has the same text, and Mango/Scott 1997 (p. 496, with n. 3) suggest solidi
or pounds. Cf. the following note.

8 I.e. slaves. Theophanes (cf. previous note with reference to Mango/Scott 1997) gives
the number of prisoners as fifty, whereas De administrando imperio 21.15-16 mentions 800.

9 Or gastalds: Lombard local governors (cf. Mango-Scott 1997, p. 497, n. 6).

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127

the Bulgarian people crossed over 1 and, splitting from their kinsmen, they
settled at Varna in a region of forests and mountains. On hearing this, the
emperor went out against them with ships and an army. Seeing this massive
attack coming, and despairing for their lives, the Bulgarians take refuge in a
stronghold and make themselves secure. Now, since the Romans were unable
to join battle with them because of the marshes and the location’s impregna¬
bility, the abominable 2 people became more audacious. It also happened that
the emperor suffered a violent attack of gout and had to return to Mesembria, 3
leaving it to the strategoi to make an ambush and drive the Bulgarians out.
But when the cavalrymen spread the rumour that the emperor was fleeing,
the strategoi Add, although they were not being pursued. On seeing this,
the Bulgarians went after them and killed many by the sword. And then
they crossed over and audaciously gained control over Roman territory,
over-running it and taking prisoners. This forced the emperor to sue for peace
with them and, to the shame of the Romans and because of our many sins, he
agreed to pay them a yearly tribute. For he who had subdued everyone was
defeated by the abominable people. 7 Having achieved peace everywhere,
the emperor united the holy churches and gathered an ecumenical synod of
289 fathers in Constantinople, and he confirmed the dogmas of the previous
five holy synods. 4 He crowned Justinian, his son, as co-emperor. 8 When
Mauias the Arab died, Abimelech came to power. Sending ambassadors
to the emperor, he asked for peace and offered a yearly tribute of 365,000
gold solidi, 365 slaves, and 365 thoroughbred horses. This he did so that the
Mardaite tagma 5 should l?e withdrawn from Lebanon. 9 Having reigned for
seventeen years, this pious Constantine departed from life.

1 I.e. over the Danube and into Byzantine territory.

2 t6 gtapdv £0voq: a common way to describe the Bulgarians.

3 Present-day Nesebar in Bulgaria.

4 This is the Sixth Ecumenical Council, or Third Council of Constantinople, taking place
in 680/681 and, among other matters, being concerned with putting an end to monotheletism
(cf. above. Chapter 109, § 16).

5 Cf. above, § 4.

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129

114 Justinian, his Son

Justinian, his son, reigned for sixteen years. 1 He sent a message to
Abimelech to confirm in writing 2 what had been agreed during his
father’s reign, and he sent orders and removed 12,000 Mardaites—what
foolishness! Thus he curtailed the Roman realm. For from then on and
until the present day, Romania has suffered terrible evil from the Arabs
because of the removal of the Mardaites. 2 Justinian also dissolved the
peace with the Bulgarians, and he went on an expedition to the Western
parts of the empire where, in some cases by war, in some by persuasion,
he won many groups of Slavs over to his side. He then returned. From
these Slavs he selected 30,000 men and made them into an army, calling
them the chosen people? He armed them and made them his own special
force and, trusting to their help, he dissolves out of folly the peace
between the Romans and the Arabs. And taking the selected, or, rather,
this unholy people, as well as the other army units, he set off towards
Sebastopolis. 4 To this city also the Hagarenes came, and they protested
saying that he should not pervert what had been agreed upon under oath,
for God will judge and take vengeance. However, the emperor did not
listen to this talk of peace, and he marshalled the troops for battle. At this,
the Hagarenes unfolded the written peace document and put it on a spear
and rushed against the Romans. And when they clashed, 20,000 of the
Slavs deserted to the Hagarenes, and so the Romans were routed terribly,
and an immeasurable number of them were slaughtered. The righteous
judgement and the victory went to the enemy, teaching that, even if you
are dealing with an enemy and with non-believers, you should never break
an oath sworn in the name of God. 3 When the emperor had fled and, in
great shame and defeat, had arrived at the coast of Leukaton, 5 he had the
remaining 10,000 Slavs killed. And after this the Hagarenes behaved even
more audaciously, and they ravaged Romania more vehemently, having
also the Slav refugees to help them. When the emperor entered the City,
there was a solar eclipse that made even the stars appear. 4 Justinian

1 Justinian II reigned 685-695 and 705-711. Cf. for his first period of reign Theophanes
(Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 506-515).

2 Or: ‘to confirm what had been agreed upon in writing.’

3 Or: ‘most treasured among peoples’ (Xadv jtepiouaiov): this is an echo of Exodus 19.5.

4 Some 200 kilometres south of Samsun, present-day Sulusaray.

5 Leukate in Theophanes, present-day Yelkenkaya Burnu, across the gulf from Yalova

(see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 511 and 512, n. 3).

took an interest in building activity relating to the palace. He built the
so-called Triklinos of Justinian and arranged the area round the palace.
He had his sakellarios 1 and proteunouchos 2 Stephen to do this. This was a
bloodthirsty and cruel man who maltreated the workers and showed them
no compassion; he even went as far as to beat the emperor’s mother. He
also treated the inhabitants of the City badly, and he made unjustifiable
demands of a fiscal kind upon the citizens. 3 Through this, he made the
emperor hated in the City. 5 Wanting to build a platform for the people
and a place for them to stand the emperor asked Kallinikos, the patriarch,
to make a prayer for the deconsecration of the Church of the Most Holy
Mother of God, the one close to the palace, for he wanted to prepare an
open courtyard with a fountain 4 and a platform 5 for the people, so that the
so-called saximodeximon 6 could be performed there. The patriarch said:
‘We have a prayer to say when a church is founded, but no prayer has
come down to us for a church’s deconsecration.’ However, being put under
pressure and requested to perform the prayer, he said: ‘Glory to God,
Who endures everything, now and always and to the end of time.’ And
immediately they destroyed 7 the church. 6 Leontios the patrikios had been
suspected of coveting the throne and had been held in detention for this
reason for two years. He was then sent by Justinian as strategos to Hellas.
There he met Paul, a friend of his, who was a monk and an astronomer, 8
and this Paul predicted that Leontios would become emperor. To him and
to his other friends Leontios said in private: ‘Look, the emperor will send
people after me, pnd he will cut off my head. Anyway, it is not true what
you promise me about the rule.’ But they said: ‘If you do not hesitate, it
will soon come to pass.’ 7 And he took them along and broke into the
public prisons, collecting a large mob around him. When he came out to
the Forum, his men shouted to all the people: ‘All Christians to St Sophia.’

1 A fiscal official, serving the imperial treasury.

2 ‘First of the eunuchs’ (at the imperial court).

3 This sentence is difficult and the translation hypothetical.

4 qndkri (cf. Chapter 130, § 36).

5 pdGpa. The text seems somewhat repetitive here. Perhaps this is done with rhetorical
calculation, the second mention of the platform being part of the actual words spoken to the
patriarch.

6 This was a ceremony at which the emperor inspected racehorses (cf. the description
below, Chapter 130, § 36).

7 Or: ‘deconsecrated’ (Greek Karakdco, as above).

8 I.e. astrologer.

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And when the crowd had gathered, they cried: ‘Let the bones of Justinian
be exhumed.’ Then, coming to the hippodrome, Leontios is proclaimed
emperor. And, when dawn broke, he brought Justinian to the hippodrome
and had his nose slit in the Sphendone and exiled him to Cherson. 1
The crowd seized the sakellarios Stephen, who was also a eunuch, and
Theodotos, the genikos , 2 and they tied ropes round their feet and dragged
them through the Mese 3 and had them burnt in the Forum Boarium.

115 Leontios

Leontios reigned for three years. 4 2 During his reign the Arabs went on
an expedition and occupied Africa. 5 On learning this, Leontios sends the
patrikios John, who was an able man, with the Roman fleet. John routed
the enemy and liberated Africa. He then sent a report back to the emperor,
and he spent the winter there. On learning this, the protosymboulos 6 7
sent a great Hagarene force against John and chased him away. John
then returned to Romania intending to gather a greater force. 3 When,
on his journey back to the emperor, John had come as far as Crete, the
expeditionary force was led astray by their own commanders and made
a bad decision. They killed John the patrikios and, cursing the emperor,
they proclaimed Apsimaros, who was droungarios 1 of the Kibyrrhaiotai,
emperor and renamed him Tiberios. 4 When Leontios was cleansing the
Neorion harbour, 8 bubonic plague hit the City and killed a great host of
people. 5 Apsimaros arrived with the fleet and anchored at Sykai. 9 Even
though the City did not wish to betray Leontios, treason took place, and

1 Chersonesus Taurica, in the Crimean Peninsula.

2 I.e. he worked for the genikon, an office responsible for the collecting of general taxes
(according to Mango/Scott 1997, p. 513, he was ‘head of the state treasury,’ i.e. logothetes tou
genikou).

3 The main street of Constantinople, running from the area of the Great Palace until the
City Wall.

4 Leontios reigned 695-698. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 515-518).

5 For this expedition see Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 516-517.

6 Literally: ‘first counsellor,’ either denoting the caliph, or the (Arab) commander-in¬
chief (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 497 and p. 500, n. 1).

7 This is a military rank, encountered here for the first time in this text.

8 Cf. above, Chapter 99, § 2.

9 At Galata across the Golden Horn.

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131

the gate at the Blachernai was opened. Apsimaros was able to apprehend
Leontios, and he had his nose slit and exiled him to the Dalmatos
monastery. 1 Also, after beating all Leontios’ friends and confiscating their
belongings he sent them into exile.

116 Apsimaros, Also Known as Tiberios

Apsimaros reigned for seven years. 2 During his reign there was a great
plague, and the Romans raided Syria and slaughtered as many as 200,000
people. 2 Apsimaros exiled Philippikos, son of the patrikios Nikephoros,
to Cephalonia, since he was thought to be dreaming of becoming emperor.
For he said that in a dream he had seen his head being covered by an eagle. 3
And having heard this, the emperor sent him into exile. 3 Justinian, who
was in Cherson, made it known that he intended to regain the throne. This
alarmed the inhabitants of Cherson, who discussed whether they should
put him to death or send him to the emperor. On learning this, Justinian
flees to Chazaria, 4 and the Chazar gave him his own sister, Theodora,
for wife. Being informed of this, Apsimaros sends an embassy to the
Chagan, 5 promising him many gifts if he turns over Justinian to him alive
or, otherwise, lets him have his head. On learning this, Justinian secretly
went down to Cherson and, gathering some men, sailed to the Istros
estuary. There was a storm, and because of this storm everyone lost hope
of survival. One of Justinian’s intimates said to him: ‘My Lord, if you
are saved and God gives you the throne, give your word that you will not
exact vengeance from any of your enemies.’ But Justinian said with great
fury: ‘May the Lord let me drown on the spot rather than that I should
spare any of them.’ 4 Having been saved from the storm, Justinian sent
a message to Terbelis, the Bulgarian, with a promise of an alliance and a
guarantee that Terbelis should be able to retain his inherited kingdom and
also should receive many gifts from Justinian. Terbelis did not only agree
to an alliance but offered his services as well. For together with Justinian

1 This is in the City.

2 Apsimaros (Tiberios II/III) reigned 698-705. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 517-522).

3 Cf. Marcian (see above, Chapter 98, § 6).

4 I.e. the Chazar (Khazar) empire, north of the Black Sea.

5 This would seem to refer to the Chazar ruler, not, as otherwise, to the ruler of the
Avars.

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he arrived at the capital with a very great force. 5 Justinian entered the
City together with a small number of his kinsmen. He went through the
aqueduct, 1 aided by the treason of some people in the City, and he emerged
at St Anna, into the building called Deuteron (Second) thereafter because
of him. 2 He took up temporary residence in the Blachernai palace and so
regained his throne. On learning this, Apsimaros fled to Apollonias. 3

117 Justinian

Justinian took over the throne for a second time. 4 After he had given
many gifts 3 to Terbelis he cut olf part of Romania and gave him what
is now called Zagoria. 2 He sent people to apprehend Apsimaros, and
impaled Herakles, Apsimaros’ brother, and all the magistrates who
had been his comrades-in-arms 6 on stakes on the City wall. He bound
Apsimaros and Leontios with chains and brought them to the kathisma in
the hippodrome, where he placed his foot on their necks until the end of
the first race, while the people shouted: ‘You have walked on a snake and
a basilisk, and you have trampled on a lion and a dragon.’ 7 He then sent
them to the Kynegion 8 and had them decapitated. He also had Kallinikos,
the patriarch, blinded and exiled, and he destroyed many people in the
City, causing great fear. 3 He sent for Theodora, who was from Chazaria,
and Tiberios, her son, and they ruled together with him. 4 He dissolved
the peace treaty with the Bulgarians and marched against them. Then,

1 I.e. he presumably went through the Valens aqueduct (cf. Theophanes: Mango/Scott
1997, p. 522).

2 ‘called ... him’ (rd Xeydpevov Si' rnlidv gierore Ssurepov): i.e. referring to the fact that
it was the second time that an intruder entered the city through the aqueduct.

3 Perhaps Apollonia ad Rhyndacum in north-western Anatolia (see Mango/Scott 1997,
p. 524, n. 5).

4 Justinian II reigned for the second time 705-711. Cf. Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 522-533).

5 Or: ‘to achieve this, he gave many gifts etc.,’ i.e. stressing that the bond with Terbelis
was the reason why Justinian managed to regain the throne (cf. 116, § 4).

6 There is probably a minor textual problem at this point, but the meaning seems clear.

7 A paraphrase of Psalms 90(91).13.

8 The Kynegion mentioned here is probably the (ancient Roman) amphitheatre used for
beast shows and, later on, for executions (cf. R. Janin, Constantinople Byzantin, Paris 1964,
2nd ed., p. 14). However, in other instances in this text the term kynegion may refer to a
hunting park (see Chapter 69, § 2, with note).

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133

having been defeated, he took refuge in a fort and, having hamstrung
his horses, boarded a ship and returned to Constantinople ignominiously.
Feeling a grudge against the inhabitants of Cherson, where he had been
in exile, he sent the patrikios Mauros and had them all slaughtered and
their ‘infants dashed against the earth.’ 1 5 Philippikos, also known as
Bardanes, who lived there as an exile, had managed to bring some soldiers
over to his side and to make them loyal to himself as a result of Justinian’s
rudeness and brutality. They hailed him as emperor and sent him with a
fleet towards the City. On hearing this, Justinian was even more fearful
and angry, and he went up to Sinope 2 to get more exact information about
the matter. When Philippikos arrived at the City with the fleet, Justinian,
who had been abandoned by everyone, escaped to Damatrys. 3 However,
he was apprehended at once by Philippikos, who had his head cut off and
sent to the Scythians. 4

118 Philippikos, Also Known as Bardanes

Philippikos, also known as Bardanes, reigned for two years. 5 To those
who met him and talked to him, he seemed to be a learned and sensible
man. Yet his actions proved him to be a man whose conduct was in every
way improper, incompetent and shameful. He was no real orthodox
Christian, 6 and was not ashamed to move against the Holy Synod, try in g
to overthrow it. 7 2 During his reign also the Bulgarians took prisoners
from as far as the Golden Gate and returned home. 3 When chariot races
had been held and the green party had won, Philippikos decided to go
to the Zeuxippos bath together with his retinue and with instruments, to
bathe and to have a banquet with humble citizens. When he was resting
(that is, having a siesta), the patrikios George, also called Boraphos, and
the patrikios Theodore Myakes suddenly burst in, together with soldiers

1 ‘babies ... earth’: cf. Psalms 137.9.

2 On the Black Sea.

3 This may be Samandra at the mountain of St Auxentios close to Constantinople (for
this see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 531, n. 11).

4 I.e. back to Cherson where he had been an exile.

5 Philippikos reigned 711-713. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 531-534).

6 KaxoSo^oi;.

7 He was a monothelete.

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from Thrace. They seized Philippikos and took him to the ormtourion 1 of
the green party 2 and had him blinded. On the following day, they brought
the people into the Great Church and crowned Artemios the protasekretis 3
as emperor.

119 Artemios, Also Known as Anastasios

Artemios, also known as Anastasios, reigned for two years. 4 He was a most
learned man, and he appointed most learned and able men to be strategoi
in command of the cavalry units of the themata and to hold civil office.
Therefore, the political situation remained stable. He had the patrikioi
Theodore and George blinded and exiled to Thessalonica. 2 The Arabs took
arms against Romania on land and at sea, and it was reported to the emperor
that they were coming towards the City. The emperor began to build
dromones and biremes and to renew the sea walls. He also strengthened
the land walls with catapults for darts, and he fortified the City with other
armaments, and he filled the granaries with crops. 3 It was also during his
reign that Germanos was translated from the metropolitan see of Kyzikos
to Constantinople. And Artemios published a decree of translation, 5 which
was approved by the vote and scrutiny of the most God-loving presbyteroi
and deacons and the Holy Synod. 6 It read as follows: ‘In the reign of emperor
Artemios, Divine Grace, which always takes care of what is weak and
supplies what is lacking, transfers Germanos, the most holy president of
the metropolitan church of the people of Kyzikos, and makes him bishop
of this God-protected, imperial City.’ 4 On learning that a Hagarene fleet
had sailed to Phoinix, 7 to cut timber there, the emperor sent a fleet under

1 This was probably an assembly hall or room in which the urna used for drawing lots
(in order to allocate starting positions in chariot races) was placed (see Mango/Scott 1997,
p. 534, n. 6, with further references). There is great variation as to the correct form of this
word ( armatourion , etc.). Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Theophanes’ Latin translator, has
oratorium.

2 I.e. faction in the hippodrome.

3 The joint chief of the offices asekretis.

4 Artemios, i.e. emperor Anastasios II, reigned 713-715. Cf. Theophanes (Mango/Scott
1997, pp. 534-536).

5 KtTtattbpiv pexa0f;aipou (cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 537, n. 3).

6 iepa ouykXt|toi; (‘Sacred Senate’).

7 Perhaps (so Mango/Scott 1997, p. 537, n. 5) modern Fenaket, on the coast by Rhodes,
rather than Phoinike (or Phoinix) in Lycia, probably referred to above, Chapter 112, § 3.

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135

the command of a cleric by the name of John, whom they also called
Joannakes, to burn down the woods at Phoinix and destroy the Hagarene
naval force. But the fleet rebelled and turned against the emperor, and they
killed Joannakes with swords. Having done this, they sailed back towards
the imperial City in open rebellion. Arriving at Adramyttion, 1 they found
Theodosios there, who was a tax-collector and a pious man and who did not
pursue any selfish interests, and they proclaimed him emperor, for they did
not consider that they had any real leader of their own. However, Theodosios
fled into the mountains and went into hiding. But when they found him,
they acclaimed him and forced him to become emperor. 5 On learning this,
Artemios fortified the City and fled to Nicaea. 6 The Constantinopolitan
fleet and that of Theodosios continued to fight each other for six months.
Having passed over to the Thracian part of the empire Theodosios reached
the City with a great force, and he entered the City through the single
wall at the Blachernai gate and, taking much booty and sparing no-one,
the marine soldiers plundered the City and robbed its leading men. They
took hold of the patriarch Germanos and the officials loyal to Artemios and
brought them to Nicaea. On seeing the soldiers coming, Artemios asked
for and received a pledge of personal security, and put on a monk’s habit,
whereupon Theodosios had him exiled to Thessalonica. 7 Leo the Isaurian,
who was strategos of the Anatolikon, fought on behalf of Artemios and did
not subordinate himself to Theodosios. He had Artavasdos the Armenian,
strategos of the Armeniakon, as a supporter, and had agreed to give him his
daughter in marriage.

120 Theodosios of Adramyttion

Theodosios reigned for two years. 2 2 During his reign Masalmas, the leader
of the Saracens, 3 campaigned against the Romans. On arriving in the region
of Amorion he writes to Leo, strategos of the Anatolikon: ‘The empire of
the Romans is yours. So come and let us talk about peace, and I will do
anything you want.’ 3 Leo sent hypatoi to him to conduct peace talks and,
when he had been acclaimed emperor, he goes to Nicomedia with a very

1 Or: ‘Adramytion,’ in north-western Asia Minor, present-day Edremit.

2 Theodosios III, of Adramyttion, was acclaimed emperor in May 715 and abdicated in
March 717. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 538-541).

3 I.e. the Umayyad prince Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik.

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great army. There he happens to meet Theodosios’ son, and he apprehends
him as well as his imperial retinue and the palace officials, and he arrives
at Chrysopolis. But Theodosios received a pledge of security from Leo and
ceded the throne to him, becoming a cleric together with his son.

121 Leo the Isaurian

Leo the Isaurian reigned for twenty-four years. 1 2 His story is more or
less as follows. The leader of the Arabs was Yezid. 2 Two young Jewish
men, enemies to God and claiming to be pursuing the astrological science,
come to the royal court of the Arabs and make statements to Yezid: they
predict a long life for him if he can make the icons of Our Lord Jesus
Christ and of the Mother of God disappear from all churches under his
rule. And he, who loved life, followed the advice of the cheats, and he
upset all the churches in his territory. Yet the wretched man was deceived,
and divine justice struck him before a year had passed. 3 His son, who
succeeded him to the throne, wanted to kill the two Jews for being false
prophets. On learning this, the two Jews went away to Isauria. When they
were refreshing themselves at a well, behold! There was Leo, still a youth,
with good looks and well grown. He was a simple craftsman and earning
his living from this, and he now unloaded his pack-animal and also sat
down at the well to eat his lunch. 4 Then these men, who were devotees
of sorcery, reveal to him that he will control the sceptres of the Roman
empire. Now, considering his own simple state, Leo is doubtful about
this, but the godless men assure him with oaths that this is what is going
to happen. And they ask him to swear that, if this should come to pass and
they should ask him for something, he would give it to them without
hesitation. Close by was the Church of St Theodore. At once the simple
craftsman Leo went inside and, touching the sanctuary’s holy railings,
gave as guarantor Christ’s great martyr. 3 All the while the Jews were

1 Leo III the Isaurian reigned 717-741. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 541-574).

2 This story is confused. This should be the Umayyad caliph Yazid b. Abd al-Maiik
(cf. Theophanes, Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 555-556). However, the chronology does not make
sense, since he reigned 720—724, and Leo the Isaurian is said to come into prominence
during Yezid’s son’s reign.

3 I.e. St Theodore (Theodoros Stratelates), executed under Licinius (cf. above, Chapter

88, § 3).

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137

standing at the door of the church, and they received his oath. And so
each of them returned immediately to his place of origin. 5 At that time
the patrikios Sisinios was strategos of the Anatolikon. During his time in
office Leo served as a soldier there and was quickly promoted to a very
high rank. For he was appointed spatharios 1 by Justinian Rhinotmetos, 2
and he was sent to the West, and on returning in great triumph Theodosios
made him strategos of the East. 6 Having gained the throne in the way
just described, the seers, who had made the prophecy about him, came to
Leo and took his hand and asked him to fulfil his promise. When he
declared himself ready to grant it to them, these enemies of God said:
‘The following we demand of you, emperor: that you erase any depiction
of the Nazarean Christ and of his mother and of all the saints from every
account of ecclesiastical history. If you do this, you will reign through
your kin for a hundred years.’ The wretch, who was not firm in his faith,
very readily promised to do what was asked and proceeded at once to act.
7 A son named Constantine was born to the impious emperor Leo. 3
During his baptism, it is said that he discharged terrible, foul-smelling
excrement into the baptismal font. This was a bad sign. 4 8 For, shortly
afterwards the emperor sent for the patriarch Germanos and started a
discussion with him, which had a hidden purpose. He censured all the
emperors before him and all the priests as having been idolaters in their
reverence for the holy icons. But the great Germanos said: ‘Listen,
emperor! When our Lord Jesus Christ appeared in flesh and walked
among men, every kind of idolatry ceased, and every idol disappeared
and was banned. For the prophet Zechariah says: “The Lord Sabaoth
says: I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall
be remembered no more.” 5 However, we have been told that the icons will
be torn down, but not during your reign!’ The emperor interrupted:
‘During whose reign, then?’ ‘During Konon’s,’ answered the patriarch.
And the emperor retorted: ‘Truly that is I, and I have been called by that
name since my childhood.’ And the great Germanos said on his part: ‘My
Lord, let it not come to pass, that this abominable evil be perpetrated
during your reign!’ On hearing this the upstart, the enemy of God, roars

1 Early on denoting an imperial bodyguard, but at this date probably an honorary title.

2 I.e. emperor Justinian II.

3 This is Constantine V, born 718.

4 From this came the nickname of the future emperor, Kopronymos (‘Named from
dung’).

5 Zechariah 13.2.

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like a wild beast 1 and becomes exceedingly displeased and calls the
patriarch an idolater, and he strikes him with his own hands and drives
him out of the palace. And in this brutal and impious way, he starts the
heresy and, having torn down the icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ at the
Chalke gate, 2 he holds a selention against the icons. He also summons the
venerable Germanos unto his presence for a second time, in the belief that
he will be able to convince him to sign a document against the holy icons.
But Germanos in no way yielded either to flattery or to threats from the
upstart. Instead he placed his omophorion 3 on the holy altar of the Great
Church and renounced his priesthood and went into exile. 9 The enemy of
God appoints Anastasios, the presbyteros, as patriarch instead of
Germanos, since Anastasios supported the emperor’s impious decision.
The emperor had every icon of Our Saviour and of the Mother of God and
of the saints torn down and burnt, and he started a great persecution,
subjecting many priests and monks and laymen to various kinds of
punishment as well as death. Close to Chalkoprateia there was a modest
palace in which, in accordance with an ancient decree, there lived an
oikoumenikos didaskalos 4 together with twelve men from the aristocracy
who were his assistants. These men pursued every kind of science and
they preserved the dogmas of the Church, and they also received imperial
funding, and likewise books. Emperors did not make any public judgement
or decision without consulting them. The beast of ill-omened name 5
summoned these men, and tried to persuade them. When they did not
accept his view but criticised him, he ordered that a great amount of wood
should be collected and set on fire, and that the men should be burnt with
their buildings and books and all other belongings. Because of this the
proedros of Rome 6 also rebelled and made a peace treaty with the Frank,
and he stopped sending tribute, and he condemned Anastasios and his

1 ‘roars ... beast’ (<b? dviipepoq Oi'ip fipii^at;): this expression is of a common type (cf.
below. Chapter 128, § 7). It should be remembered that the man’s name was Leo, ‘Lion.’

2 ‘Copper Gate’ (X&Xkti): of the Great Palace. That the emperor inaugurated iconoclasm
by tearing down an icon at the Chalke is highly doubtful.

3 A kind of scarf worn (in this case) by bishops.

4 ‘universal teacher’: a title used in different epochs, sometimes referring specifically to
a teacher at the Patriarchal School at St Sophia.

5 Le Leo = ‘Lion’ (cf. above, § 8).

6 The pope. The actual historical meaning of this is uncertain: perhaps the increasing

problems in the relationship with the pope were economically motivated rather than due to
iconoclasm.

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men. 10 Masalmas was waiting for Leo to honour his promises. However,
when he did not receive anything from Leo and realised that he had been
cheated, he moved ugainst the imperial City. And he reached Abydos and,
having transferred a very large force to the other side, 1 he writes to
Souleiman, 2 the protosymboulos, to come with his fleet at once. And in the
month of August Masalmas laid siege to the City, building a palisade to
encompass the land wall, and he inflicted severe damage on Thrace. On
the first day of September 3 Souleiman arrived with ships of great size,
triremes and dromones, to the number of 1,800.11 The emperor sent the
navy against them with its fast ships, and with liquid fire 4 he made their
numerically superior, fearful ships catch fire, so that some of them ran
into the sea walls in flames, whereas others sank with all hands, in the
deep sea, and yet others were driven as far as Oxeia and the other islands,
still burning. 5 From this the inhabitants of the City gained confidence, for
the enemy had been struck by a major catastrophe. 12 The enemy spent
the winter close by the City. When spring came, plague struck, combined
with famine, and destroyed an immeasurable number of them. The
survivors joined battle with the Bulgarians in Thrace and were for the
most part killed. On the fifteenth of August 6 as they set out from the City
with a violent gale blowing, some were killed at Proikonnesos 7 and at
other beaches, while others were lost at sea when a violent hail-storm
combined with powerful wind hit them and made them all go down. A
mere five ships out of the 1,800 were, against all expectation, saved, and
this remnant made the Roman victory and their own utter destruction
known in their country. 13 On hearing that the Hagarenes were trying to
destroy the City, Sergios, the strategos of Sicily, crowned one of his own
men as emperor (this man was called Basil, and his nick-name was
Onomagoulos), and he also appointed officials. On hearing this, the
emperor sent Paul there carrying his orders and accompanied by a fleet.

1 I.e. to the European side of the Hellespont. Abydos is located on the Asian shore of the
Hellespont.

2 Sulayman b. Muad (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 541, n. 1).

3 This was 1 September 717.

4 I.e. Greek fire.

5 I.e. to the Princes Islands in the Marmara Sea (Oxeia is present-day Sivriada).

6 This was 15 August 718. Since this is the day of the feast in celebration of the
Assumption of the Virgin, the text may suggest that the Virgin once more protected the City
from its enemies.

7 Or: ‘Prokonesos,’ i.e. Marmara Island.

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Now, on learning that the Saracens had been routed and that Leo reigned,
the Sicilians betrayed Basil and the other officials to Paul, who had all of
them decapitated on the spot as rebels. 14 Together with other patrikioi,
the patrikios Niketas Xylinites made friends with Terbelis; this was
achieved through letters, much money and gifts, and they urged him to go
to war against Leo. However, some Bulgarians betrayed them and revealed
their names to the emperor, who had them all killed by the sword. 15 The
same Leo crowned Constantine, his son, on the tribune of the Hall of the
Nineteen Couches. 1 16 Leo also baptised Jews by force, with the result
that henceforth Jews were called Montanists. 2 He also sent John of
Damascus, 3 also known as Chrysorroas 4 (this was because of his wisdom),
into exile, and he called him Mansour, that is, ‘blasphemous.’ 5 17 He
betrothed the daughter of the Chagan, the chief of the Scythians, 6 to his
son Constantine, and had her converted to Christianity and renamed her
Irene. Having been instructed in the Holy Scripture this girl came to excel
in piety, and she became a critic of the impiety of others. 18 Because of the
pope, Leo often committed unfriendly acts against Rome, and he ordered
that the churches should pay a yearly tax. The Hagarenes also went to war
against all Romania, and they took many prisoners and returned home.
And there was a great earthquake that caused churches and houses 7 to
collapse, and it also brought down the statue of Arkadios at the Xerolophos, 8
as well as the land walls of the City and of Nicomedia and Nicaea, and it
made the sea recede from its boundaries in certain places. On learning
that the walls had fallen, the emperor made a speech in which he said:

1 AeicaevvSa Atcotipixa: a reception hall (in the Great Palace) also used for formal
dinners.

2 Montanism is a Christian heresy known since the second c. Theophanes has: ‘In this
year the emperor forced the Jews and the Montanists to accept baptism’ (Mango/Scott 1997,
p. 554).

3 Ca. 676-749, prominent defender of icons.

4 ‘golden flowing,’ or ‘of the Golden Stream’ (so Mango/Scott 1997, p. 565).

5 ‘that is, blasphemous’: or ‘which is blasphemy.’ As it stands, the passage is obscure.
Much clearer is the corresponding passage in Theophanes: ‘... John, whom the impious
emperor Constantine subjected to an annual anathema because of his pre-eminent orthodoxy
and, instead of his paternal name, Mansour (which means ‘redeemed’), he, in his Jewish
manner, renamed the new teacher of the Church Manzeros’ (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 578; for
Mav^ripoq (Aramaic ‘bastard’) see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 579, n. 7).

6 I.e. the Chazar Chagan.

7 Greek oikou<; (large houses, palaces, institutions).

8 Cf. Chapter 96, § 1.

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141

‘You who live in the City are not able to rebuild the walls yourselves. So
we have ordered the City governors to demand one miliaresion for each
solidus-, this money the state will collect and rebuild the wall.’ From this
the custom has prevailed to give the dikerata 1 to the City governors.
19 In the middle of all this the most abominable Leo gives up his soul,
dying of dysentery. 2

122 Constantine Kopronymos

Constantine, his son, called Kopronymos, 3 reigned for thirty-four years, 4
and he turned out to be a ‘devious leopard, born of a most terrible lion;
from the seed of a snake, a cobra and a flying serpent.’ 5 2 This emperor
inherited both his father’s throne and his impiety, and he distanced himself
eyen more from God and the Mother of God and from all His saints. And
starting with this, he devoted himself to magic and recklessness and the
invocation of demons and the cutting up of intestines and other evil
practices as well as'to hunts and chariot races; thus he became a suitable
instrument of the Antichrist. For he drifted into such extreme senselessness
that he even published a general decree that no one at all should be called
holy and that, whenever they were found, one should spit upon the bodily
remains of holy men and not ask for their intercession (‘for they have no
power,’ the impious man added). ‘Nor [he added] should one invoke Mary’s
intercession (for she has no power), nor call her Mother of God.’ To illustrate
this, he took a pouch full of gold in his hand, and he showed it to everyone
and asked: ‘What is it worth?’ And they said: ‘[So and so] much,’ at which
he emptied it of the gold and asked again: ‘What is it worth?,’ to which they
answer: ‘Nothing.’ ‘So,’ he said, ‘it is with Mary, too’ (for the godless man
did not deign to call her Mother of God). ‘She deserved honour as long as
she had Christ within her. But when she had given birth to Him, she was no

1 The nominal worth of the miliaresion would be 1/12 solidus. The dikerata mentioned
should be understood as two carats per solidus (one carat = 1/24 solidus). In other words, the
latter is another way of expressing the same ratio as that intended by the first. Cf. Mango/
Scott 1997, p. 572 and 574, n. 6.

2 This is the typical death of an evil emperor.

3 See above, Chapter 121, § 7.

4 Constantine V reigned 741-775. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 574-620).

5 This is partly reminiscent of Isaiah 14.29.

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different from any other woman.’ What blasphemy! Save us, Lord! 1 3 These
attitudes caused no little despondency amongst the Christians, with the
result that everyone came to hate the emperor, and they attached themselves
to Artavasdos, who was a kouropalates and the emperor’s brother-in-law.
For it happened that Constantine went out against the Arabs in the region
of Opsikion, 2 and Artavasdos was with him, and they watched each other
suspiciously. At some point they clashed with each other, and Biser, 3 who
was also the confidant of Constantine, was killed by Artavasdos, and
Constantine fled in fear to Amorion. After this, terrible battles ensued
between them. Artavasdos wrote to the magistros Theophanes, who was
his friend and who took care of his interests in the City, and asked him to
receive him. And, having been received by the themata, he was proclaimed
emperor. [Artavasdos] having entered the City together with Anastasios,
the false patriarch, all the people cursed Constantine and proclaimed
Artavasdos as orthodox emperor. So Constantine arrived at Chrysopolis
with his people, but, not achieving anything, he returned to Amorion.
Artavasdos had the holy icons put up again everywhere, and the Church
regained its earlier order. Holding the venerable Cross and standing in the
ambo, Anastasios, the patriarch, swore: ‘By Him who was nailed to this,
Constantine the emperor said to me, that “you should not consider Christ,
who was born from Mary, as the son of God, but as an ordinary man, [born]
just as I was born from my mother [also called] Mary.’” On hearing this,
the people cursed Constantine. Artavasdos went out and started to levy an
army. On learning this, Constantine moved against him and, joining battle
with him, routs him. And Artavasdos reaches Kyzikos and takes refuge in
the City. When Constantine reached Chalcedon he crossed to the Thracian
side and, establishing himself at the land-wall, went as far as the Golden
Gate and showed himself to the masses. Thereupon, Artavasdos opened the
gates and joined battle again, but was decisively defeated. Since Constantine
had taken control of the fleet, the City was struck by severe famine, with
the result that a bushel 4 of barley was sold for twelve solidi, and other
commodities at similar prices. Since people were dying and wasting away,
Artavasdos was forced to release them so that they could leave the City.

1 In this passage, Constantine and the iconoclasts are probably accused of more than
they ever stood for.

2 A thema in north-western Asia Minor.

3 This man (Biser or Bishr) is mentioned several times in Theophanes (for this passage
see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 575; see also p. 556, n. 2, etc.).

4 p6Sio<; (equalling approx, seventeen litres).

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Niketas, the son of Artavasdos, gathered a sufficient force and went as far as
Chrysopolis, where the emperor crossed over and pursued him and, when he
caught up with him, had Niketas arrested and put into fetters. Arriving at the
City, Constantine showed Niketas to his father through the wall. Then
suddenly, having arranged his men in battle-order he entered the City through
the land-wall and apprehended Artavasdos and the patrikios Vaktangios. He
had Artavasdos blinded, together with his two sons; but as for Vaktangios, he
had his hands and feet cut off and beheaded him in the Kynegion, and he had
many others of the leading men killed and their belongings confiscated.
Having organised chariot races, the emperor brought in Artavasdos together
with his sons as well as the patriarch Anastasios and his friends. The patriarch
was led in the procession, sitting on a donkey and facing backwards. For,
once, when he was a synkellos ,' he had been walking behind Germanos the
patriarch, and he had stepped on his omophorion. And Germanos had turned
around and said to him: ‘Don’t hurry, the Diippion 2 is waiting for you.’ After
having thus terrified him, Constantine restored Anastasios to the patriarchal
throne, for the patriarch sympathised with him in matters of the creed.
4 During Constantine’s reign a great many signs began to appear out of
nowhere on people’s clothes, and on the churches’ holy vestments there
appeared very many crosses dripping with olive oil, and so the Divine wrath
in the form of bubonic plague struck, not only the inhabitants of the City, but
also those in the surrounding areas, causing terrible devastation. And in
addition many people were subject to hallucinations and terrible portents,
and on seeing these they jiied. Thus entire households were wiped out, and
there were not enough people to bury the dead. When every house was thus
destroyed because of the impiety of the tyrant, the emperor took all the
wealth belonging to the City’s householders and brought it to the palace and
stored it there. The wrath even reached the impious Anastasios, and he ends
his life by the most pitiable ailment, the so-called chordapsos? 5 When the
upstart 4 hears that the Saracens are fighting each other, he marches out to
Syria, and he occupied Germanikeia, Theodosioupolis and Melitene and
made everyone there a prisoner. 3 And using the fore-mentioned plague as a

1 Belonging to the patriarch’s staff as an adviser.

2 The gates of the hippodrome in Constantinople.

3 A bowel disease. This is of course a symbolic punishment.

4 I.e. the emperor (Greek tupavvoi;).

5 The cities in question are present-day Kahramanmara? (Germanicia Caesarea),
Erzurum, and Malatya, all in East Anatolia (Turkey). They had been lost by the Byzantines
in the seventh c.

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pretext, he took his relatives, who were Armenians and Syrians and
heretics, and resettled them in Byzantium and in Thrace. These people
keep the heresy of the upstart alive to the present day. 1 6 At this time a son
was born to the emperor Constantine from the Chagan’s daughter, the
Chazar woman; he was named Leo. 2 7 Being elated in his mind because of
the victory he had achieved, the godless man gathers a synod against the
holy icons in the Blachernai and, in defiance of the prescriptions, he
ascended the ambo. 3 Holding Constantine, bishop of Sylaion, by the hand,
he pronounced the following: ‘Long live Constantine, the ecumenical
patriarch!’ During this synod the shameless priests talked a lot of nonsense
about the Lord, and they stretched their abominable hands into the air and
shouted the following miserable words: ‘Today salvation comes to the
world, for you, emperor, have delivered us from the idols.’ Such did the
unholy traffickers of Christ do. 8 Shortly afterwards the emperor committed
deeds worthy of himself against the patriarch. For, when the avenging
spirit 4 learnt that the patriarch had told many people that the emperor had
said to him, ‘Christ is not God; therefore I do not consider Mary to have
given birth to God,’ he [the emperor] became mad with rage against him
[the patriarch] for having disclosed his secret, and inflicted many blows on
him and paraded him in front of the people during the chariot races, and
had him spat at and dragged away. 5 Then, having detained him, he sends
patrikioi to him and says: ‘What do you say now about our belief and about
the synod which we convened?’ Now the patriarch, who was totally
confused in his mind and who thought that he would be able to placate the
emperor again, answered: ‘You believe rightly and rightly did you convene
the synod.’ But they laughed at this and said to him, that ‘this is precisely
the thing we wanted to hear from your foul mouth.’ And at once they took
him away and had him beheaded and dumped his body in the Pelagios, 6
where formerly there had been a church of the holy martyr Pelagios. This
church the God-hated emperor had had torn down, and he had made a

1 This was probably written down in the ninth c. Cf. below, § 13, with another example
of the tendency to refer back from the viewpoint of‘today.’

2 This is emperor Leo IV, born 750.

3 This is the 754 iconoclast synod of Hieria, the concluding session of which took place
in the Blachernai.

4 dXdaxwp, i.e. the emperor.

5 The Greek is slightly incoherent.

6 Ta Pelagiou, i.e. (perhaps) the ‘district/quarter (or ‘ditch’: so Mango/Scott 1997, p. 610)
of Pelagios (Pelagion).’

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burial place for criminals there and called it Pelagios. And in the place of
Constantine he has Niketas, who was a eunuch and a Slav, appointed
patriarch. 9 Likewise, he had the holy man Peter and the pious Stephen,
who came from Mt Auxentios Theophoros, 1 killed, and he ordered that they
should be dragged to the Pelagios and dumped there. And many other
leaders and monks he delivered to a terrible death on account of the holy
icons. 10 The emperor went to war against the Bulgarians by land and by
sea and, having routed them, he entered the City in arms, carrying the
enemies’ weapons, and he paraded the Bulgarians in fetters in a triumphal
procession. 11 At this time a winter storm came, and there was such a
great, bitter cold that the northern sea of the Pontos 2 became hard as stone
for a distance of a hundred miles, and the open sea froze to ice to a depth of
thirty cubits. When it snowed upon this, the surface towered up for another
twenty cubits, so that the sea assumed the shape of dry land and wild and
tame animals could walk over the cold. In the month of February, through
the Providence of God, this sea-water was split into very many mountain-like
pieces and, by the force of the winds, it was brought down to the Hieron
and then through the Stenon 3 to the City, and from there it reached the
islands and came to Abydos, and it filled all the coast-line, bringing also
different kinds of animals along which were stuck in it. Because of this,
anyone who wanted to could pass on foot, as if on land, from Sophianai to
St Mamas and into the City, and from there to Chrysopolis. 4 One of these
large pieces crashed into the City wall, which resonated from its foundations
together with the adjacent buildings on the inside and, when this piece was
split into three, it surrounded the City from Mangana to Boosphorion 5 and
reached much higher than the walls. On seeing this, the inhabitants of the
City lamented inconsolably. 12 In the month of April, a swarm of stars
passed in the sky, and they fell down to earth in such a way that those
watching thought this was the end of the world. 13 The emperor went to

1 This is St Stephen the Younger, who lived at Mt Auxentios and also founded a
monastery there. Whatever the truth was, later generations considered him one of the main
victims of iconoclasm.

2 I.e. the Black Sea.

3 Stenon (‘narrow’) denotes the Straits of the Bosphorus, whereas Hieron denotes the
beginning of the Straits at the Black Sea.

4 I.e. from the Asian side of the Bosphorus to the European, and from there to the City
centre and over to the Asian side along the Marmara Sea.

5 I.e. round the coastline of the Acropolis, below present-day Topkapi (presuming that
Boosphorion is the same as the Prosphorion harbour (cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 602, n. 14)).

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war against the Bulgarians with the navy as well as the army, and he sent
forces to Achelon. 1 However, a violent wind started to blow, and the ships
were destroyed. On learning this, the Bulgarians join battle with them, and
the emperor was terribly defeated and returned humiliated. For even until
today the bones of those killed at Achelon bear evident witness to the
defeat. 2 14 This man, hated by God, 3 had the earthly remains of many
saints burnt, and some of them he handed over to the sea. Among the latter
was the body of St Euphemia and, since he was not able to stand the sight
of how sweet oil gushed forth from it, he consigned it, coffin and all, to the
depths of the sea. However, the body arrived safely at the island of Lemnos
and was found there by the inhabitants through a divine revelation. The
holy and all-praiseworthy woman’s church he made into an armamenton 4
and a deposit for dung. During the reign of Constantine and Irene, the body
of the same all-praiseworthy woman was brought back to the City with a
great display of honour. 5 15 This emperor promoted two of his sons to
caesars, Nikephoros and Christopher, and his son Niketas to nobelis-
simos. 6 When Irene came from Athens to the imperial City accompanied
by dromortes, the emperor joined her in marriage to his son Leo, and he
crowned them in the Church of St Stephen with the imperial crown as well
as the crown of matrimony. 7 16 The emperor had secretly made friends in
Bulgaria, and these friends informed him about everything that their ruler
planned. These men reveal to the emperor: ‘The lord of Bulgaria sends
people to imprison the inhabitants of Berzetia.’ 8 The emperor made a show
of going to war against the Arabs, and he sent messengers of peace towards
Bulgaria. He then gathered the whole army together with the tagmata and,
without having made a declaration of war, he fell upon the Bulgarians and
routed them and achieved a great victory. 9 Then he returned to the City

1 Or: ‘Anchialos,’ present-day Pomorie in Bulgaria.

2 Another reference back from ‘today’ (cf. above, § 5). The battle took place in the 760s.

3 Or: ‘God-hating.’

4 Probably ‘stable’ (cf. above. Chapter 108, § 6, where the same term seems to stand for
an ‘arsenal’).

5 Yet another reference back from ‘today’ (cf. above, §§ 5 and 13). Constantine and Irene
reigned, more or less conjointly, 780-797. Their rule saw a relaxation of iconoclasm (cf.
below, Chapter 124, esp. § 10).

6 An honorary title given to members of the imperial family.

7 Here ends Nikephoros’ Short History (cf. Introduction).

8 The territory, or city, of a Slavonic tribe living in Macedonia or Thessaly (see Mango/
Scott 1997, p. 618, n. 6).

9 According to Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997, p. 617) this was in 772/773.

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147

and, wearing his armour, celebrated a triumph, and he called this war ‘the
noble war,’ since no enemy had stood up against him and there had been no
loss of Roman lives. 17 On learning that the emperor receives information
from his own people about his plans, the Bulgarian chief, Telerichos, writes
a deceitful letter to the emperor to the effect: ‘I am planning to escape and
to come to you, so that you with my help can subdue the whole of Bulgaria.
Therefore send me a pledge of security and tell me who your friends here
are, so that I can encourage them to come with me.’ Being caught in
stupidity and madness, the emperor wrote down the names of his informants
and, having learnt them, Telerichos handed all of them over to a terrible
death. On hearing this, Constantine pulled out his beard. 18 Setting out
once again to campaign against the Bulgarians, the emperor was afflicted
dreadfully by carbuncles in his legs and by a violent and burning fever. He
returned to Arkadioupolis on a stretcher, and from there he came to
Selymbria and, travelling by boat as far as the fortress of Strongyle, 1 he
died there in body and soul, crying out and saying: ‘While still alive, I have
been handed over to the unquenchable fire because of the Mother of God,
Mary. But from now on let her be honoured and hymned, for she is in truth
the mother of God.’ Shouting this and calling upon Mary, the Mother of
God, and exhorting everyone else and expressing as his belief that the
eternal virgin should be honoured and given special reverence as the
Mother of God, he gave up his wretched soul in a terrible and painful way. 2

123 Leo, the Son of the Chazar Woman

Leo, his son by the Chazar woman, reigned for five years. 3 2 He started to
lay hands upon the great riches left by his father. This he did in order to
placate the ruling class and so as to appear pious in front of the people and
as a friend of the Mother of God and the monks. He even made some monks
metropolitans of episcopal sees. 4 3 Then, the leaders of the themata entered

1 Selymbria (present-day Silivri), Arkadioupolis (LOleburgaz) and Strongyle (or
‘Round Castle,’ also known as Kyklobion) are all in Byzantine Thrace (Kyklobion being at
Hebdomon, only seven miles from the city centre).

2 This is a prime example of the bad death of an evil emperor.

3 Leo IV reigned 775-780. Cf. for his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,

pp. 620-626).

4 Thus, even though Leo promoted the careers of some monks, this hints at one aspect
of iconoclasm, viz. as that of a conflict with monasticism.

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the City together with a great crowd, and they begged him to make his son
Constantine emperor. But he, who was afraid ofhis brothers, declared to them.

‘I have only one son, and I fear to do so, lest death should come to me and you
put him, who is only a small child, to death and appoint someone else instead
of him.’ But they assured him with terrible oaths that they would not accept
any emperor other than his son. From Palm Sunday until Holy Thursday they
kept asking for this, and on Good Friday he ordered them to swear on the
Holy Cross. And those in charge of the themata and of the tagmata stationed
in the City together with all the citizens swore not to accept any emperor but
Leo and Constantine and their seed. 4 And on the Great Sabbath 1 he made
his brother Eudokimos a nobelissimos, and he came in procession together
with two caesars and three nobelissimoi and the young Constantine to the
Great Church and, having made the customary ceremonies, he ascended the
ambo together with his son and the patriarch. When the whole people entered
and they had deposited their documents [with their signatures} on the altar,
the emperor said: ‘Behold! From the church and the hands of Christ you
receive my son.’ And the people cried: ‘Son of God, be our witness that we
receive the lord Constantine from Your hand to be emperor, and that we will
guard him and die for him!’ And on the following day, Easter Sunday, in
the presence of all the people, Constantine was crowned in the hippodrome
by his father and the patriarch. And the two emperors came to church m
procession together with the two caesars and the three nobelissimoi. 5 The
Arabs went out from their country, and the emperor sent armed forces against
them and achieved a great victory, and he went out to Sophianai and made a
maioumas 2 and celebrated the victory. For it was customary that the emperor
should receive the spoils there. 6 When the patriarch Niketas, the Slav, had
died, the venerable Paul, a worthy man, respected for words and deeds, was
appointed. 7 The emperor Leo was informed that the papiaf of the palace,
Theophanes, together with three koubikoularioi, reveres and worships the
holy icons. On hearing this, the emperor revealed the evil hidden in him, and
he had them mercilessly flogged and made into confessors by having them
killed in secret. 8 Aaron, the king of the Arabs, went out to the themata and
seized several fortresses, and he took prisoners and returned home. 4 9 The

1 Easter Saturday of 776.

2 A popular festival originating from Syria, see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 623.

3 Responsible for the security and maintenance of the palace.

4 I.e. Arab forces entered Byzantine territory. Aaron is the (fifth) Abbasid caliph Harun

al-Rashid.

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149

same Leo was obsessed with precious stones, and he took a fancy to the
crown of Maurice, and he took it and wore it in a procession. 1 On his return
[to the palace] his head was severely affected by carbuncles, and he was
struck by a most violent fever from which he wasted away and died, earning
the appropriate reward for his sacrilege. 2

124 Constantine

Constantine reigned for ten years together with his mother Irene. 3 During
their rule orthodoxy 4 and the proper ecclesiastical order were restored.

2 When Irene had reigned for forty days together with her son, some men in
high office hailed the caesar Nikephoros, her husband’s brother, as emperor.
These people she had flogged and exiled to different places, with their
property confiscated. But her husband’s brothers, who were caesars and
nobelissimoi, she had tonsured, and she forced them to take holy orders and
administer communion to the people during the festival of Christ’s birth.
During this festival she also went forth in public in the manner of an empress
together with her son, and she offered the Church the crown that had been
taken away by her husband; 5 this crown had now been adorned with pearls.

3 A man who was digging at the Long Wall found a coffin and, when he
opened it, he saw a large man lying in it, and there were letters carved into
the coffin saying: ‘Christ will be born from the Virgin Mary, and I believe in
him. During the time of the emperors Constantine and Irene you, O sun, will
see me again.’ 4 Irene sent a message to Karoulos, the king of the Franks, to
arrange the betrothal of his daughter to her son. 6 However, this came to
nothing because of envy. Instead, Irene brought a girl from Armeniakon

1 On the crown cf. above. Chapter 107, § 10.

2 This is yet another example of the death of an evil emperor.

3 This refers to the ten years (780-790) of Constantine Vi’s regency council, headed by
Irene, his mother, and Staurakios. Constantine then reigned in his own right until 792, and
then jointly with Irene until 797, when he was dethroned and blinded. This chapter, such as
it is, covers the whole period until Nikephoros I and his accession to the throne in 802 (i.e.
Irene is not accorded a chapter of her own, and the years 790-797 are not accounted for in the
overall chronology). Cf. for Constantine’s and Irene’s ten-year reign Theophanes, Mango/
Scott 1997, pp. 626-640; for the years 790-797, Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 640-650; and for the
years 797-802, when Irene reigned alone, Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 650-654.

4 Euo6|3eia.

5 I.e. the crown of Maurice, cf. above. Chapter 123, § 9.

6 The King of the Franks was Charlemagne, and the name of this daughter was Rotrude.

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named Mary and united her in marriage to her son Constantine. This was
against the express wish of Constantine because of the tie he had with
Karoulos’ daughter. 1 5 Aaron, the leader of the Arabs, 2 came against the
City with great forces and camped in Chrysopolis. But the emperor sent
people and seized [the region of] Lake Van, and for this reason Aaron sues
for peace. When journeying to Aaron over this matter, Peter the magistros
and Staurakios the logothete and very many others in high office were seized
for no reason and put in chains. 3 Because of this, the inhabitants of the City
were forced to give a great amount of gifts, and so they received the hostages
back, and the Arabs made peace and returned home. 6 Irene sent Staurakios
the logothete with a great force against the Slav tribes and subdued them all
and made them pay tribute to the empire. Accompanied by musical
instruments, the emperor also went out to Thrace together with his mother
and very many people. And he went as far as Beroia, and his mother had it
rebuilt and she renamed it Irenopolis. She 4 also had Anchialos 5 rebuilt, and
so they returned in good cheer. 7 The patriarch Paul fell ill and, since he had
forebodings that he was about to leave this world, he left his throne and went
to the Floras monastery and was tonsured. The emperor then came to him
together with his mother, and he wanted to know the reason for his retirement.
At this Paul, with many tears in his eyes, said: ‘I wish I had never sat on the
throne of the Church while it was in secession from the other holy thrones
and subject to anathema .’ On hearing this, the emperors returned home
gloomy and downcast, but they sent patrikioi to Paul to hear what he had to
say. 8 To these people Paul spoke freely and at the end of his explanation he
said: ‘Unless an ecumenical synod is convened and the error of your belief
is corrected, you have no chance of salvation.’ And they say to him. But
why did you sign the document at your consecration, to the effect that one
should not worship the holy icons?’ He says: ‘It is precisely for this reason
that I cry and resort to repentance and pray that God may not punish me as
a priest and a shepherd. For I have kept quiet until now and have not preached
the truth out of fear of your madness.’ On hearing this they left him,
discussing at length amongst themselves. In this way, renouncing the
abominable heresy and preaching the word of truth, he passed away
peacefully, leaving the emperors and the pious people in great sorrow. For

1 They had not met, of course.

2 Harun al-Rashid.

3 The Greek text seems corrupt, and the translation is very hypothetical.

4 ‘She’: or, possibly, ‘he.’

5 l.e. the Achelon mentioned above, Chapter 122, § 13.

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151

he was a most venerable man, adorned with every virtue. In his stead
Tarasios, the former asekretis, 1 was elected. 9 By imperial command, which
came into effect upon the suggestion and exhortation of Tarasios the
patriarch, all bishops of Rome and the other holy thrones as well as those
under the imperial City were gathered in the Church of the Holy Apostles in
order to hold a synod on the worship of the holy icons. But, while they were
reading out loud to the emperors and all the people the passages from the
divine scriptures pertinent to the synod, the scholariof loyal to Constantine
Kopronymos attacked them, drawing their swords and dissolving the
gathering. At once the emperors had these men disarmed and removed from
the City on pretext of a festival at Malagina, 3 and they were forced to return
to their hometowns in dishonour. 10 The pious Tarasios is sent with the
afore-mentioned bishops to Nicaea, and the synod is convened, and so the
Church regained its old order. 4 For this second meeting 350 fathers convened
in Nicaea, and they decreed that the icons and the Cross should be revered.
11 Being driven by envy and a desire to run the state on their own, some
friends of the empress Irene estranged the mother from the son and persuaded
her that ‘it is not decided by God that your son should rule. It is really yours,
the empire.’ 5 By which she, being a woman, was fooled (she was also fond of
power), and she was convinced in her own mind that this was so. But the
emperor, who was twenty years of age and a very vigorous man, and able in
military matters, fretted at his lack of power; and so he started to plot against
his mother. On being told this by Staurakios, Irene had all the intimates of
the emperor flogged and exiled. Peter the magistros and the patrikios
Theodore Kamoulianos, and others in high office she had exiled in
fortresses, 6 and she reproached her son greatly and isolated him, and she
made all the army and the men in high office swear, that ‘as long as you live,
we will not accept your son as ruler.’ 12 The people of Armeniakon were the
only ones not to accept this, and they continued to hail Constantine together
with Irene as before. Irene sent Alexios the droungarios of the vigla, 1 with

1 Secretary in the imperial chancery (here: former asekretis, Greek &7td doeicpdccov).

2 Imperial palace guards (cf. domestikos of the scholai (see Chapter 130, § 22)).

3 Perhaps east of Nicaea (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 636, n. 4, with further references).

4 This is the Second Council of Nicaea (or Seventh Ecumenical Council) that took place
in 787 and restored the veneration of icons.

5 Or: ‘the power.’

6 l.e. under maximum security, well away from the capital.

7 This droungarios was the commander of an elite unit ( tagma ) devoted to the protection
of the emperor’s person.

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the by-name Mousele, to persuade them, but they detained him and made
him their leader, keeping their own strategos imprisoned, and they hailed
Constantine alone. On learning this, the people of the other themata did the
same: it was the devil who suggested such denial and perjury to the people.

13 Irene was frightened by the people’s impulsive action and so sent her son
to the army. But the soldiers hailed him as emperor and renounced his
mother, and they confirmed Alexios as the strategos of Armeniakon. On
returning to the City, the emperor showed no mercy and had Staurakios and
Aetios, the protospatharioi, 1 who were intimates of Irene, flogged and
exiled, and did the same with the other eunuchs belonging to her entourage.
But Irene he placed securely in the Eleutherios monastery, 2 which she had
built herself and where she had also hidden a great amount of money.

14 There was also a fire, and the hall 3 of the patriarchate, the so-called
Thomaitis, was burnt down, as well as the chambers beneath it, in which the
originals of all the writings of John Chrysostom were stored. The fire went
as far as the Milion 4 and the quaestor' s office, and it raged in all directions
until it had burnt everything down. 15 The emperor went out against the
Bulgarians and ravaged their country and defeated them and returned home.
Likewise he went with a great army against the Arabs at Tarsos and took
many prisoners and returned home. 16 Asked to do so by his mother herself
and by many in high office, the emperor once again proclaims his mother
empress, and he ordered everyone to hail ‘Constantine and Irene,’ as before.
To this everyone agrees, except the people of Armeniakon; these rebel and
ask for Alexios Mousele, whom the emperor had honoured with the title of
patrikios and had kept with him. Because he was asked for in this way, and
because of some rumour, which he had heard, to the effect that Alexios
would become emperor, the emperor had Alexios flogged and tonsured and
confined to prison. 17 Wanting to make Nikephoros, the former caesar,
emperor, the tagmata and the themata gathered in the City. On learning this,
the emperor sent for all 5 the sons of his grandfather Constantine and took
them to St Mamas, and he had Nikephoros blinded in a terrible way, and had
the tongues of Christopher, Niketas, Anthimos and Eudokimos cut out.

1 ‘first spatha-bearer’ (spatha being a kind of sword): a dignity ranking below
patrikios.

2 Or: ‘house/institution’ (Greek oltcoq), in the City; cf. below, § 24, where what should be
the same is referred to as the ‘Eleutherios palace.’

3 xpk/avoq.

4 A monument close to St Sophia from which distances in the empire were calculated.

5 ‘all’: the Greek text has &p(pot£pov>? (‘both’), which does not seem possible.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 153

Together with these, he also blinded Alexios Mousele; this was upon his
mother’s advice. The people of Armeniakon he apprehended and, having
routed their leaders in battle, he had them punished, tattooing in black on
their foreheads: ‘Traitor from Armeniakon’; and he exiled them to Sicily and
other islands. 18 The emperor hated his wife Mary and, acting on the
suggestion of his mother, who coveted the throne and who wished to make
him hated, he forced Mary to become a nun. After this he was illegally
betrothed to the koubikoularia Theodote, and he crowned her.’ Plato, the
hegoumenos of the Sakoudion monastery, and others split from the patriarch
because of the emperor’s second marriage, and on these people the emperor
inflicted much sorrow. 2 But his mother protected them since they hated her
son. 19 Kardamos, the lord of Bulgaria, wrote to the emperor: ‘Either pay
me tribute, or I will come to the Golden Gate.’ The emperor put horse dung
in a cloth and sent it to the Bulgarian lord with the words: ‘I send you the
tribute which is fitting to you. You are an old man, and I do not want you to
exert yourself and come here. Therefore, I will come to you.’ Then the
emperor gathered a force and went out and chased Kardamos back to his
country. 20 His mother flattered everyone and attracted people to her side by
promising gifts to them, and she bided a suitable day for assuming absolute
power. When the emperor went out against the Arabs, and the people had
been prepared to seize him according to his mother’s plan and because of the
lawlessness of the woman 3 (for which she 4 became hated), the nobles
convince him to return to the City; this they did on the instigation of his
mother. Upon his arrival at the palace (his mother was not present), the
nobles and his mother’s counsellors shut him into the Porphyra, 5 in which he
had been born, and they blind him in a terrible way, so as to be past healing,
almost killing him. 6 Upon this, the sun was darkened for seventeen days, so

1 She was crowned with the crown of marriage and also proclaimed augusta.

2 This is the so-called Moechian controversy.

3 ‘the woman’ (rfj<; yovctiK6<;): or ‘his wife,’ i.e. Theodote, in which case the intended
meaning (although this is not clearly put in the Greek) may be ‘because of the illegality of
their marriage.’

4 ‘she’: or, possibly, ‘he.’

5 I.e. ‘Purple (building, or chamber),’ in which imperial children were born.

6 ‘almost killing him’: or ‘so as to kill him.’ However, according to Chapter 125, § 3,
he was alive early in Nikephoros’ reign, and in Chapter 130, § 42, we are told where he
lived after being blinded. Also, in Chapter 129, § 4, Thomas the Slav (whose rebellion took
place 821-822) is said to have been able to claim to be none other than Constantine. On the
problem of the actual date of Constantine’s death see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 649f., n. 10, with
further references.

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that ships lost their way and everyone said that ‘the sun was darkened
because of the blinding of the emperor.’ But behold God’s inscrutable
decisions! For, Constantine himself is blinded in the same month, on the
very day five years after he had had his own uncles and Alexios Mousele
blinded. 21 Thus Irene exercised power alone. 1 But her husband’s brothers
rebelled against her, and she exiled them to Athens. However, even there
they made plans about regaining power, and therefore they were killed by
the locals. In this way the family of the abominable Constantine 2 disappeared.
22 On the second day of Easter the empress went out for the customary
procession to the Church of the Holy Apostles, and in the evening she
showed herself riding in a chariot drawn by four white horses held by
patrikioi, and she distributed a lot of largesse in the Mese. 23 While the
empress was ill, it was announced to her: ‘Staurakios is planning a rebellion
against you.’ At this, she held a selention in Justinian’s triklinos, and decreed
that none of the magistrates should have anything to do with Staurakios.
Aetios, who was paradynasteuorP' with Staurakios and who was jealous of
him, managed to transfer Staraukios’ power to himself. 24 In this situation,
Nikephoros," patrikios and genikos, staged a coup against the empress
relying on the counsel of the patrikios Niketas and Sisinios (these two were
brothers, the treacherous and deceitful Triphyllioi), as well as ofth e patrikios
Leo, called Sarantapechos, and the patrikios Gregory, called Mousoulakios,
as well as some other people in high office. And having come to the Chalke
Gate at the fourth hour of the night they greeted the guards by saying that
they had been sent by the augusta, and they entered the palace and, while it
was still night, they spread the word of Nikephoros’ accession in all the City,
and they placed guards at the Eleutherios palace 4 in order to keep Irene
under surveillance. When the morning came, they sent for her and locked
her up in the Great Palace, and so the wretched man [Nikephoros] came to
the church in a procession in order to be crowned.

1 This was in 797. From this point, a chapter headed by Irene’s name would have been
expected.

2 Probably Constantine V, singled out, no doubt, for special mention as a kind of chief
exponent of iconoclasm.

3 Vague title for a person with considerable influence with the emperor and chosen by
him to assist him in ruling.

4 Cf. above, § 13.

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155

125 Nikephoros

Nikephoros reigned for eight years. 1 The masses cursed the man who
crowned 2 as well as the man who was crowned. 2 Feigning goodness,
Nikephoros spoke words of consolation to the empress and said that he
would give her any comfort if she revealed to him where her treasures were.
But she gave a sensible answer, telling the treacherous slave of yesterday
who had now become an usurper: ‘I believe, my good man, that it was God
Who promoted me to this empire, whereas I attribute my downfall to my
own sins. In all this, may the name of the Lord be praised. However, you
should not ignore the plots against you, of which I have been informed. If
I did support these, I could easily have you killed. But I have decided to
have nothing to do with all this, partly because I trust your oaths, partly
in order to spare you, and I rather hand you over to God, through Whom
emperors reign and rulers wield their power. And in the present situation,
I make obeisance to you on the supposition that you are pious and have
been made an emperor by God, and I ask you to spare me because of my
weakness and, as a consolation for my incomparable misfortune, to let me
have the Eleutherios palace which I have built.’ But he said: ‘If you want
this to happen, you will have to assure me by oath that you will not conceal
any treasure; then I will give you every comfort.’ She assured him this and
showed him great wealth. However, having got what he wanted, Nikephoros
at once exiled her to the island of Prinkipos, where she had built a monastery.
Seeing that all the people in high office were vexed at him because of his
greed, Nikephoros became frightened and, even though it was very severe
winter weather, he exiled the same Irene to the island of Lesbos to be kept
under guard there. 3 He turned to Constantine, Irene’s son, 3 who also showed
him the treasure, which had been put behind marble slabs; this is the treasure
which is now at the Sigma. 4 4 The same Nikephoros had Niketas Triphyllios
murdered by poison. 5 The patrikios Bardanes, strategos of the Anatolikon,
named ‘the Turk,’ was proclaimed emperor by the overseas 5 themata.

1 Nikephoros reigned 1 November S02-26 July 811. Cf. for his reign Theophanes
(Mango/Scott 1997, pp. 654-677).

2 I.e. the patriarch Tarasios.

3 See above, Chapter 124, § 20, on the question of the date of Constantine’s death.

4 This could either be a place in the Great Palace (see Chapter 130, § 36) or the place of
an intersection of one of the main roads leading out of the city (towards the Xyiokerkos Gate).
The former seems more likely.

5 Or: ‘provincial,’ or ‘Asiatic’ (iffiv jrEpaxuaov Oepaimv).

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He himself firmly refused to listen to this but, seeing that he could not avoid
it, he went with an armed force to Chrysopolis; then, fearing before God that
Christians would be slaughtered for his sake, he asked for, and received, a
pledge of safe conduct from Nikephoros, and without the knowledge of his
people he went in the middle of the night to the Herakleios monastery in the
Katabolos, 1 and was made a monk without delay. Then, when he came in the
imperial chelandion , 2 which had been sent for him, to the island of Prote 3
and to the monastery which he himself had had prepared, he is blinded by
some men from Lycaonia acting at the behest of the emperor. When this
had come to pass, the emperor, feigning, as the hypocrite he was, that he
was struck with sorrow, assured everyone by oath that he was innocent
of this deed. 6 During Nikephoros’ reign the leader of the Saracens 4 went
out to Amorion. Nikephoros advanced as far as Dorylaion 5 and made the
following speech to the protosymboulos: 6 ‘Why do you take pleasure in
injustice and bloodshed, and why are you not content with your own country
but transgress ancient boundaries, sanctioned by our fathers? 7 What divine
prophet taught you to do this? Did not Muhammed, your prophet, encourage
you to consider the Christian your brother and call him so? For, surely, God,
the Creator of all, Who provides for both kinds, 8 does not delight in the
unjust shedding of human blood? 9 May this not happen! Or is it because
of a lack of silver and gold and the rest that you have marched out to do
an injustice to those who have done no injustice to you? Yet you have in
abundance the most beautiful and precious things—things that seem most
desirable to us. But, if you are in need of anything that we have, we will
at once give it to you as an act of friendship. Let us not, like immortals 10
or godless people, go to war with each other, and let us not out of envy

1 This is in Bithynia, at the Marmara Sea, not far from (present-day) Bursa (cf. Mango/
Scott 1997, p. 647, n. 6).

2 A galley warship.

3 One of the Princes’ Islands close to Constantinople in the Marmara Sea, today
Kmaliada.

4 This is Muhammed ibn Harun al-Amin, (sixth) Abbasid caliph (reigned 809-813).

5 In Anatolia, close to present-day Eski$ehir.

6 I.e. the caliph.

7 This speech bears resemblance to that of Romanos I before Symeon the Bulgarian in
924 (see below, Chapter 136, §§ 35-36).

8 I.e. Christians and Moslems.

9 Or: 'For, surely, God, the Creator and Curator of all things, does not delight in the
unjust shedding of anyone’s blood?’

10 I.e. the ancient gods as depicted in pagan literature.

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157

imitate the demons’ war with the humans. For we know that in a little
while, we will die and come before an impartial judge, who will give
everyone retribution according to his acts.’ The emperor Nikephoros sent
this message to him together with some gifts, and the Arab was delighted
and sent very many wondrous gifts in return and so went home in peace,
in great admiration of Nikephoros’ good sense. 1 7 When Irene died of
sorrow and despondency in exile in the island of Lesbos, where she had
been kept under surveillance, the emperor had her body transferred to the
monastery at Prinkipos, which she had built herself. For she was very pious
and virtuous, and she built many guesthouses, and homes for the elderly,
and monasteries, and she decreed the remission of taxes 2 and many other
good deeds. 8 The emperor crowned his son Staurakios, who was an ugly
and simple-minded person. 9 Also, the most holy bishop Tarasios departed
from life and the most saintly Nikephoros is appointed patriarch instead
of him. 3 10 The emperor went to war against the Bulgarians and defeated
them decisively. He even set fire to the so-called palace 4 of their leader
Krum. And even though Krum pleaded for this (‘let this be sufficient for
you, emperor’), Nikephoros, because of his great greed, did not allow any
discussion of a peace treaty. At this the barbarian was angered, and fenced
off the entrances and exits to the land with wooden fortifications, and two
days later he gathered people and attacked the emperor’s tent and killed
him and all the men who were with him. He cut off Nikephoros’ head and
put it on a stake. Afterwards, he laid bare the bone of the skull and plated
it all around with silver and ordered the leaders of the Bulgarians to drink
from it, and he triumphed over his enemy for being insatiable and for not
wanting peace. 11 As some people said, Nikephoros killed many Christians
because of his greed and love of money. For he augmented the taxes for his
subjects, and he offered public office for sale to interested parties. And the
man who paid the greatest sum in gold was considered worthy of being
promoted to office. Nikephoros also invented what they call chartiatika. 5 In
fact, it seems that almost everything that is evil and painful, it was he who
devised it, in order to harm the Christians.

1 Even an evil emperor can show good sense—and does so occasionally, especially in a
setting like this.

2 In contrast with Nikephoros, see below, § 11.

3 This was in 806.

4 tt|v Xeyop4vT]v aiiXrjv.

5 An administrative tax, cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 669, n. 6.

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126 Staurakios, his Son

Staurakios, his son, reigned for one year and two months. 1 2 He had been
wounded in his right thigh during the war, and returned to the City on a
stretcher. Because of his wound he lay in the palace and was unable to go
out. 3 He planned to blind his brother-in-law Michael, the kouropalates, and
leave the throne to his wife. Then Michael, his brother-in-law, is suddenly
proclaimed emperor in the hippodrome by the Senate and the tagmata,
because Staurakios was already despaired of. 4 At once on learning this,
Staurakios donned the monastic habit together with his wife Theophano,
and he died in the monastery called [Ta] Braka 2 and was buried in the
monastery of the Satyr. 3

127 The Most Pious Michael Ragabe 4

The most pious Michael reigned for two years. 5 He was crowned by the
patriarch Nikephoros, and he gave fifty litrai of gold 6 to the patriarch and
twenty-five litrai to the clergy. For he was a generous and magnanimous
man, and he offered comfort to those to whom [the emperor] Nikephoros
had done injustice by his greed. 2 He also crowned Prokopia, his wife,
and he presented the Senate with many gifts, and he likewise crowned
Theophylaktos, his son, on the ambo of the church, having offered very
many holy objects to the Great Church. 3 Krum, the leader of the Bulgarians,
wrote concerning peace, demanding much tribute. But the emperor listened
to bad advice and did not embrace the peace. Michael was in every respect
a good man and of a kindly disposition, but totally without guidance in
matters of administration and a slave to the opinions of worthless people
without military experience. Therefore, when he goes to war against the

1 Staurakios reigned 28 July-1 October 811. Cf. to his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott
1997, pp. 674-677), and Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, p. 4).

2 Or: ‘Hebraika’; it is not known where this is (see Mango/Scott 1997, p. 680, n. 3, and
Wortley 2010, p. 4, n. 1).

3 On the Asian shore close to the Princes’ Islands.

4 Or: ‘Rangabe.’

5 Michael I reigned 811-813. Cf. to his reign Theophanes (Mango/Scott 1997,
pp. 677-688), and Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 4-14).

6 One litra (pound) is equivalent in weight to seventy-two solidi, i.e. a little more than
300 g of gold.

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159

Bulgarians and returns after a major defeat, Leo, a patrikios and strategos
of the Anatohkon, is proclaimed emperor; this is done in the Kampos tou
tribounaliou by the people and the leading men. 4 And, on hearing this,
Michael dressed in the monastic habit together with his wife and children!
He is confined to the island close to the City, 1 where he also died.

128 Leo, the Armenian and Apostate

Leo, the Armenian and apostate, 2 ruled for seven years and five months. 3
Having given a guarantee in writing of his own orthodoxy, he was crowned
by the patriarch Nikephoros. 2 The new Senacherim, 4 Krum, was elated
by his victory. He left his brother to besiege Adrianople, and six days
after Leo’s accession he descended upon the City and marched around
it in front of the walls, from the Blachernai as far as what is called the
Golden Gate, displaying his forces and making abominable offerings in
the meadow in front of the Golden Gate. He challenged the emperor to
conclude a peace treaty, should he [Krum] manage to plant his spear in the
Golden Gate. 5 When the emperor refused to do so, Krum returned to his
tent, marvelling at the walls of the City and the orderly ranks of soldiers at
the emperor’s disposal. Krum then turns to achieving a peace agreement
using tempting arguments. The emperor seized upon this opportunity and
tried to ambush Krum, but he was hindered from bringing his plan to pass
because of the lack of skill of his subordinates, who struck at Krum but

1 The island ofProte.

2 napaPd-cris, the word used to describe emperor Julian, in the fourth c. Perhaps the
connective ‘and’ is significant here: it links the two facts together, i.e. that he was an
Armenian and an evil person.

> Le ° V / eigned My ^-December 820. Cf. to this chapter Theophanes (Mango/Scott
1997, pp. 685-688), Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 15-26). and Ps.-Symeon 603.1-619 3ff
Leo s reign is also covered by Joseph Genesios’ Chronicle (book 1: see Kaldellis 1998)
the so-called Scriptor incertus de Leone Armenia (unfortunately not readily available in a
single, modern edition (or translation): see <http://www.paulstephenson.info/trans/scriptor.
html>, accessed 19 July 2016), and Theophanes continuatus (book 1: see Featherstone/
Signes-Codofier 2015),

4 Or: ‘Sennacherib,’ Assyrian king (705-681 BC) who attacked Judah and Jerusalem
and, according to the biblical account (see 2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32.1-23 etc) was
punished by God.

5 Or: ‘he asked him to conclude a peace treaty if he [symbolically—so as not to use itl

planted his spear.’ J

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were unable to inflict a mortal wound. At this, the wretched man 1 [Krum]
went mad, and he sent cavalry to St Mamas and burnt down the palace
there, and he loaded onto carriages the bronze lion from the hippodrome, 2
together with the bear and the dragon from the aqueduct and also most
beautiful marble works, and he retreated, besieging Adrianople and then
seizing it. He brought many Macedonian nobles together with very many
ordinary people over to the other side of the river Danube and settled
them close to the river. 3 Having reigned for two years Leo went mad
and exiled the saintly Nikephoros, who had crowned him, and he chose
Theodotos as patriarch in his stead, a senseless man and ‘dumber than
fishes.’ 3 And he started a relentless persecution of the Church. 4 4 During
Leo’s reign a comet appeared in the form of two shining moons, which
united themselves and split into different shapes. They even formed into
the shape of a headless man. And there were also terrible earthquakes,
famine, drought and fires during the reign of this man, hated by God.
5 Imitating the initiator of this abominable heresy, his namesake, 5 who
was of the same disposition, the emperor now started the heresy and, on
searching for fellow conspirators, he found John, called the Grammarian,
who was rather another Jannes or a Simon, 6 famed for divination in dishes
and for magic and shameful acts. He also found other associates. 6 He then
invites Nikephoros, the famous patriarch, and his bishops to appear in front
of the Senate, and he says: ‘You know well that some have come forward
to say that one should not revere the icons.’ At once, St Euthymios, bishop
of Sardis, spoke, and by extemporising from the Holy Scripture he silenced
the wretched man. After him, Theodore, the eager champion of orthodoxy
and the hegoumenos of Stoudios, 7 said: ‘Do not, emperor, disturb the
ecclesiastical order. For to you are entrusted the state and the army. Take
care of these and let the Church remain in orthodoxy.’ 7 On hearing this,

1 akacrtrap.

2 A local hippodrome at St Mamas (see also Chapter 131, § 9, and Mango/Scott 1997,
p. 686 and p. 688, n. 33).

3 This is a proverbial expression, stemming from Lucian (Gallus 1).

4 This inaugurates the second phase of iconoclasm, lasting until 842/43.

5 I.e. Leo III (see above, Chapter 121).

6 Jannes was one of two magicians who opposed Moses before Pharaoh (see 2 Timothy
3.8; cf. Exodus 7.11 and 22). Simon is the Magician who opposed Peter in Rome (see above,
Chapter 52, § 4, and Chapter 53, § 5).

7 This is St Theodore, abbot of the Stoudios monastery and one of the most prominent
opponents of iconoclasm.

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the usurper boiled in anger, and the ape-like man roared like a lion 1 and
drove all of them out with insults, and he removed the great Nikephoros
from the City and banished him. He also sent Theodore from Stoudios into
exile and established Theodotos Kassiteras in the patriarchate. 8 From this
moment, the emperor poured out his anger and the guile of his soul, and
he relied totally on his co-conspirators, those reckless people who, when
they had become intimate friends with him, gave him three ideas which he
promised to fulfil and which were to his liking: the denial of our orthodox
faith, the destruction of the divine icons and the persecution of the pious.
9 Persuaded by these deceptions, being, as the wretch he was, excited by
the miserable impulse, the weak-minded man first tears down every holy
ecclesiastical monument. He then condemned to terrible punishment and
to death everyone who was found to have icons of Christ or any saint, and
he killed many respectable and famous people. Likewise, he sent an infinite
number of monks to their death. 10 Michael, the leader of the tagma of the
exkoubitoi, was accused in front of the emperor of plotting against him.
The emperor kept him fettered and under surveillance in prison. When the
birthday of Our Saviour came, the emperor decided to have Michael killed
during the night. But he was prevented by his own wife on the grounds that
it was a feast day, so he left him. On learning this, Michael, who was in
prison, sent a message to all his counsellors and said: ‘If you do not make
an effort to get me out of prison quickly, I will denounce all of you to the
emperor.’ 11 Among these counsellors was the papias of the palace, who
was one of Michael’s relatives. The men armed themselves during the night,
keeping their swords under their clothes and, when the papias opened up
for them, they entered the palace as priests in ecclesiastical robes. When
the emperor entered the church, they burst in and seized him and cut him
into pieces, and he gave up his impious soul in the palace, [in a spot where] 2
no emperor before him ever had been killed. 12 In the very same hour they
go to the prison and bring Michael out from there and introduce him to the
celebration—crowned and not in fetters, so that the word of the psalm is
fulfilled with regard to him: ‘In the evening the aulos will play in sadness,
and in the morning in joy.’ 3 13 After this they dress the wretched Leo’s

1 ‘ape-like ... lion’: this is a rather absurd conflation of an insult (‘to be ape-like’) and a
common expression (‘to roar like a lion,’ for which cf. above. Chapter 121, § 8).

2 Needless to say, many emperors had died, even been murdered, in the palace. The
shocking thing in this case is that it takes place in the church

3 Psalms 29(30).6.

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limbs in shabby rags, and they put his most abominable body in a dinghy,
and they bring it out to the island known as Prote and bury it. They also
tonsured his children and made them live there.

129 Michael the Amorian

Michael the Amorian reigned for eight years and nine months. 1 2 He
relaxed to some extent the evil that had ruled until then, so that people
in jail or subject to punishment or in exile could at least dream about
freedom and relaxation. But then he secretly kindled the belief, hateful
to God, of his impious predecessor. For, because of his extreme lack of
sense and education he, too, became stuck on the same hook of the terrible
heresy. Therefore he said during a selention: ‘Those who prior to us have
inquired into the correctness of position of the Church in these matters,
will have to take responsibility about their opinions—whether they were
right or wrong. However, we have decided to let the Church continue as
it was at our accession.’ 3 He had a child by Euphrosyne, by the name
of Theophilos, and he crowned him in the Great Church. 2 4 During his
reign Thomas, the rebel, 3 who already had set out from the region of the
Anatolikon thema , 4 dragging along vagabonds and a mixed crowd, moved
against Byzantium in his unwarranted desire for the throne. Hailing from
the land of the Romans, of low birth and of no importance, he came to
Syria, where he renamed himself Constantine and claimed to be the son
of Irene, the empress; and in this way he deceived many barbarians and
Christians, and gathered an immense following and marched against
Constantinople. His many followers made him over-confident, and he did
not realise that ‘an emperor’s salvation is not dependent upon great force.’ 5

1 Michael II reigned 25 December 820-2 October 829. Cf. for this chapter Skylitzes
(Wortley 2010, pp. 27-50), and Ps.-Symeon 620.8-624.14. Michael’s reign is also covered by
Joseph Genesios’ Chronicle (book 2: see Kaldellis 1998), and Theophanes continuatus (book
2: see Featherstone/Signes-Codofier2015).

2 This is the emperor Theophilos.

3 The rebellion of Thomas the Slav, from early 821 to November 822 (cf., however,
below, end of § 4, where the rebellion is said to have lasted for three years), was an extremely
serious uprising against the ruling emperor. It has been attributed to various factors, such as
social or religious unrest. Thomas himself claimed to be no less than Constantine VI, ousted
from power by his mother Irene and of uncertain fate (cf. above, Chapter 124).

4 Or, more vaguely, ‘the East’s.’

5 Psalms 32(33).16.

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Thus he ravaged Constantinople 1 for one year during which the citizens
nobly resisted and fought from the walls and on the sea. For they set fire to
most of the enemy ships and routed the enemy’s picked men. Thomas lost
the initiative, and he left the City and marched towards Thrace, which he
pillaged. Discreetly, Michael left the City with a very great force, and he
rushed against the enemy and, having besieged them for a short period of
time, he captured Thomas without difficulty and mutilated his hands and
feet and then impaled him. Thus he put an end to the harsh civil war that
Thomas had started, which had lasted for three years. 5 While Michael
was dealing with the rebel Thomas, because of his concern about him he
disregarded everything else. Therefore, Crete and Sicily and the islands
known as the Cyclades were taken away from the Roman state by the
Africans and the Arabs. Recently the Arabs had begun to subdue and gain
control over the Christian world. It was the first time that this happened,
and it was because of the sins of the Roman people and the impiety of
their leaders. 2 6 In this political situation, Michael died a terrible death
from difficult micturition and pain in the kidneys. 3 In his place, his son
Theophilos held power together with his mother Euphrosyne.

130 Theophilos

Theophilos reigned for twelve years. 4 2 His mother Euphrosyne sent to all
the themata and had good-looking 5 girls brought in order to find a bride for
Theophilos, her son. She brought these girls to the palace, and into the hall
known as the Pearl, 6 and she gave Theophilos a golden apple and said to
him: ‘Give this to whoever catches your fancy.’ 7 3 Now, there was a girl

1 I.e. the City’s hinterland.

2 To interpret the Moslem advance as punishment for the sins of Christians is not at all
unusual. However, it is an interesting statement that this was the first time the Arab Moslems
had gained control of parts of the Christian world.

3 No doubt considered just punishment for his religious policy (see above, § 2).

4 Theophilos reigned 2 October 829-20 January 842. Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes
(Wortley 2010, pp. 51-81), and Ps.-Symeon 624.15-646.8. Theophilos’ reign is also covered
by Joseph Genesios’ Chronicle (book 3: see Kaldellis 1998), and Theophanes continuatus
(book 3: see Featherstone/Signes-Codoner 2015).

5 Or: ‘comely, suitable’ (efinpeneti;).

6 Mapyapiir]? tpItcX-tvoi;; this is in the Great Palace.

7 The historicity of bride-shows is a long-debated subject; see, e.g., D. Afinogenov, ‘The
Bride-show of Theophilos: Some notes on the sources,’ Eranos 95 (1997), pp. 10-18.

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among these, called Ikasia, who was of good family and most beautiful.
When Theophilos saw her, he was highly pleased with her beauty. He
remarked that ‘every base thing comes through a woman.’ 1 At which she
rather shyly responded: ‘But the best things also spring from a woman.’ 2
His heart was struck by these words, and he dismissed her. 3 Instead, he
gave the apple to Theodora, who came from Paphlagonia. 4 He crowns
Theodora in St Stephen’s chapel 4 and was crowned, together with her, by
the patriarch Anthony with the crown of marriage as well as that of emperor;
this was at the Feast of the Pentecost. 5 From there they went in procession
to the Great Church, and they gave great sums of money to the patriarch as
well as the clergy and the Senate. 5 And the afore-mentioned Ikasia, on
failing to gain the throne, founded a monastery and, having become a nun,
she remained there until the end of her life, fasting and philosophising and
living only for God. She also left behind a great number of her own
writings. 6 Euphrosyne, the emperor’s mother, left the palace by her own
free will and lived quietly in her own monastery called Gastria. 7
6 Theophilos arranged chariot races at the hippodrome, and he ordered Leo
Chamodrakon, his protovestiarios , 8 to bring the candle-stand that had been
cut in two with a sword when Leo the Armenian was murdered. 9 At the end
of the races he invited all the members of the Senate into what is known as
the kathisma, and he brought forth the candle-stand and showed it to them
and said: ‘He who enters the temple of the Lord and kills the Lord’s
anointed—what punishment is he liable to?’ The Senate answered: ‘He is
liable to death, O Lord.’ And at once he ordered the hyparchos to arrest
those who, in association with his father Michael, had murdered Leo, and

1 Beginning with Eve.

2 And especially through the Virgin Mary.

3 One may wonder why. Perhaps he (or, rather, the author) thought that she would not
know her place at court, or that her piety was too much, or that it, through her answer, was
all too obvious that she did not share his iconoclast inclination.

4 In the Daphne wing of the Great Palace.

5 The date of this marriage is much disputed, with suggestions ranging from 821 until
830 or even later. If we believe in the historicity of the bride show or, at least, that Theophilos
(who was born in 813) played an active role in choosing himself a wife, 830 seems suitable.

6 Ikasia (or Eikasia, or Kassia) is held to be the authoress of several hymns and also
iambics.

7 Probably in south-western Constantinople, on the site of present-day Sancaktar
Hayrettin mosque.

8 A palace eunuch immediately below the parakoimomenos in rank.

9 Cf. above, Chapter 128, § 11.

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165

he ordered that their heads should be cut off in the Sphendone. At this, they
protested very much and said that this decision was unjust: ‘For,’ as they
said, ‘had we not fought together with your father, O emperor, you yourself
would not be ruling now.’ And thus they had their heads cut off in the sight
of all, on the pretext that they had dared to commit the murder in the temple
of the Lord, but in truth because they had killed a fellow heretic and a man
who shared his godless creed. 7 For the wicked’ man clung to Leo’s
abominable heresy, 2 and he shunned the piety of the holy icons, some of
which he tore down, others he plastered over, and monks who observed the
true religion he either sent into exile or tortured. 8 To this Theophilos,
Theophobos the Persian fled together with his father and 14,000 Persians.'
Theophilos distributed these amongst the themata and found places for
them to live and divided them into tourmai', these tourmai still exist and are
called the ‘Persian tourmai* Theophobos himself he made his brother-in-
law by marrying him to a sister of Theodora, the augusta. 9 This Theophilos
was a man who loved luxury. From the head of the goldsmiths, who was a
most accomplished man and a relative of patriarch Anthony, he commis¬
sioned the building of the Pentapyrgiotf as well as of two exceedingly
great 5 organs, totally of gold, which he had further embellished with
different stones and glass. He had also a golden tree made on which birds
sat and made musical sounds by means of some machinery. The emperor
also made innovations in the royal robes, restoring them and adding gold
embroidery to what is known as the loros 6 and all the other imperial
vestments. 10 He pretended to care about worldly justice—he who more
than earlier emperors had committed outrages against faith and religion. At
one time a widow approached him in the Blachernai (it was his habit to go
there) and cried that she had been wronged by Petronas, the augusta's
brother, who was a droungarios of the vigla (‘he makes his buildings higher
and changes them by adding structures, and overshadows my buildings,
reducing them to nothing; no doubt, he treats me with so little respect
because I am a widow’). Theophilos at once sent Eustathios, the quaestor.

1 (i>aTf|piog.

2 Presumably Leo V (see preceding §). However, the first Leo of abominable heresy was,
of course, Leo III (see Chapter 121).

3 We may ask when it is that these Persian tourmai still exist. A tourma was a large
sub-division of the armed forces of a thema.

4 ‘The Five Towers,’ a cabinet for the display of valuable objects in the Great Palace.

5 Or: ‘the two biggest’ (td 8uo pcyioia).

6 A long scarf to be worn around the torso by the emperor.

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called Monomachos, who lived in Oxeia, together with Leo, the son of
Symbatios, and Demetrios Kamoulianos, to see if indeed the construction
work was causing problems to the woman. They went there and saw the
damage, and they were convinced that the woman was telling the truth; and
so they returned and told the emperor about it. And, in the presence of the
emperor, the same Petronas was questioned by them and, in the middle of
the road, he was stripped of his clothes and had his back severely beaten.
Then the quaestor and the secretaries 1 were ordered to go and raze his
houses to the ground and turn the property over to the woman. 11 Alexios
the Armenian, also called Mousele, who was a valiant and strong man, the
emperor made his son-in-law by marrying him to Mary, his beloved 2
daughter, and he made Alexios a patrikios and after a short time also a
magistros? Then, having come to suspect that Alexios was coveting the
throne, he sent him away to be a stratelates and doux of Sicily. But envy
gave birth, and some Sicilians came and accused Alexios before the
emperor, saying: ‘He betrays Christian interests to the Arabs, and he plots
against your Majesty.’ 12 In the meantime Mary, the emperor’s adored
daughter, had died, 4 and he had her coffin embellished with silver (this
silver was later taken from her grave by the emperor Leo 5 ), and he issued an
edict of amnesty to those seeking asylum for some crime. He also sent for
the archbishop Theodore, with the by-name Krithinos, who had resided in
the City at the time when Alexios was accused, and he gave him his personal
seal and sent him to Sicily to give a guarantee of immunity to Alexios and
to bring him to the emperor. So the archbishop went there and, with his
characteristic good sense, he persuaded Alexios to come with him, and he
brought him to the emperor. But the emperor had him beaten as a rebel and
put into prison, and confiscated all his belongings. 13 On seeing this, the
archbishop went to the prison and donated all his possessions to Alexios
and said, that ‘it is because of me that you have suffered all these terrible
things.’ And when the emperor, as was his custom, went to Blachernai, the
archbishop anticipated him and, clad in liturgical dress, he placed himself

1 dvTiYpcKpEu;, i.e. ‘copyists.’

2 Or: ‘favourite’ (cf. § 12).

3 This Alexios may be a son, or grandson, of the Alexios Mousele mentioned in Chapter
124, § 12ff.

4 Mary died in 839. Her marriage to Alexios Mousele may have taken place around 836,
and Alexios’ expedition to Sicily ca. 837-839.

5 This is a reference to emperor Leo VI (886-912), proving that this part of the text is no
older than the late ninth c.

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within the sanctuary; 1 and when the emperor together with the Senate
approached the solea, 2 the archbishop cried out loudly: ‘For what purpose,
O emperor, do you exert yourself and provide guidance and exercise rule?’
Embarrassed by the presence of the Senate, the emperor said: ‘For the sake
of truth and meekness and righteousness.’ 3 And the archbishop said: ‘And
what justice is there in you, if you give a written guarantee to Alexios
through me but do not keep it?’ On being censured the emperor was
provoked to anger and irrepressible fury, and he drove the archbishop out of
the sanctuary with violence, and he subjected him to an immoderate beating
and had him exiled. This he did not only because he was criticised by the
archbishop, but because he realised that the archbishop honoured and
worshipped the holy icons and secretly accused the emperor of impiety.
14 Shortly after, on coming to the Great Church and being criticised by the
patriarch because of what had happened with the archbishop, the emperor
summoned him back. But since the archbishop, because of what had
happened to him, considered himself unworthy of priestly duty, the
emperor made him an oikonomos of the Great Church. He also released
Alexios from prison and gave him back all his belongings and treated him
with respect. 15 There was also Manuel, the most notable stratelates of all
those in the East, a man held in honour by the emperor. This Manuel had a
quarrel with Myron, who was logothetes tou dromou 5 and an in-law of
Petronas. At Myron’s instigation, Manuel was slandered before the emperor,
who was told that Manuel was coveting the throne and laying terrible plans
against him. But Leo the protovestiarios, who stood up for Manuel and was
concerned about him, assured the emperor that what was said about Manuel
was untrue. 16 On learning about the matter, Manuel evaded the emperor’s
rage and the accusations, and left the City in secret. Having gone to the City
gates he entered a public carriage and went in flight to the passes of Syria,
hamstringing the horses as he went. And he said the following to the Arabs:
‘I flee the fury of the emperor and, if you do not intend to force me to leave
my faith, I take refuge with you. But even if this is so, and you receive me
on these conditions, send me a guarantee of immunity.’ The Arabs heard
this with great joy, and they sent him a guarantee and received him as the

1 I.e. in the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernai.

2 An elevated walkway in front of the iconostasis in a church.

3 Cf. Psalms 44(45).5. The words by the archbishop function as a cue to the emperor.

4 Or: ‘unfit for.’

5 Togothete of the course’: official in charge of ceremonies and foreign affairs; also head
of the imperial post, etc.

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emperor of the Romans. 17 On learning that Manuel had joined the Arabs,
the emperor was deeply distressed and grieved. He discussed the matter
with John the synkellos, who said to him: ‘If you very much wish that
Manuel should come to you, emperor, I am ready to bring that about myself.
Give me money and send me to the emir 1 on the pretext that I should visit
those in prison and in chains. And I will take a written guarantee 2 from
your Majesty, by which I will convince Manuel when I come into his
presence. For I think that I will achieve this by the written guarantee and by
my skills of persuasion and because of his piety, and because it is reasonable
that he should love his country.’ 18 The emperor gave John a very large sum
of money and gifts for the emir and sent him on his way. He came to Arab
country with all the money and all kinds of luxurious objects, so that even
the Hagarenes were amazed at his wealth. Having visited the prisons and
seen the protosymboulos , 3 he was even able to talk to Manuel in private and
to give him the written guarantee with the emperor’s seal. 19 Having done
this, John returned and announced to the emperor what he had done. Manuel
asked the emir to be allowed to go out against a certain hostile tribe. Being
granted the request, he took the emir’s son and a great number of people
with him, and he achieved a glorious victory. As a result of this, he was held
in [even] greater esteem than before, and he could get whatever he asked for
from the emir. 20 He then thought carefully about going to Romania and,
after some time, he said to the emir’s leading men: ‘If you give me the
emir’s son and an army, I will go out and subdue Romania.’ This made them
very glad, and they hoped to get this in addition to the earlier advantages
brought by him, so they armed him and sent him out against Romania at
once. 21 When he came close to the Anatolikon thema, he called his
subordinates to him and the emir’s son, on the pretext that he was going on
a raid or a hunt. At some distance from the enemy, he embraced the emir’s
son and kissed him and said, that ‘I will now go to the emperor and to my
own country, for nothing in life is more important to me than my faith and
my kinsmen. You, however, may return with your men to your own people.
Do not fear that you will suffer any harm from us.’ And so, shamefacedly
and in tears, the emir’s son returned home, whereas Manuel, who had sent

1 This must be the Abbasid caliph of the time, probably the eighth caliph, al-Mu‘tasim
(reigned 833-842).

2 I.e. a letter with the emperor’s official signature (and, see the following, seal), so as to
make it clear that the emperor himself was the sender (Greek X6yov 4vu7u6ypa<pov).

3 Probably the emir of the preceding, i.e. the caliph (similarly the titles of emir and

protosymboulos are confused below, § 32).

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169

someone in advance to announce his arrival, went to the emperor. 22 The
emperor considered this messenger a bearer of very good tidings, and he
rewarded him with money and office. He also received Manuel in a fitting
way, making him at once a magistros and a domestikos of the scholar, 1 he
also became a godfather of his children. 23 Elated by this, the emperor,
together with Manuel and the Senate and all the army, went out against the
Hagarenes, and with ease he captured Zapetra and Samosata 2 (Samosata
was famous at that time for its riches and its power, since the emir stemmed
from there), and he returned boasting with his victory and the spoils. 3 And
having come as far as Bryas, he ordered that a palace should be built there
and that gardens should be planted and water be brought 4 —which indeed
happened. 24 From there he came into the City, and he paraded the spoils
and held chariot races in the hippodrome, and he gave the signal for the first
heat and, being dressed in blue, 5 he rode on a white 6 chariot and, on winning,
he was crowned and the factions cried: ‘Welcome, incomparable faction
leader!’ 7 25 On the death of the patriarch Anthony, John the synkellos was
appointed in his stead, or to be more precise, the new Jannes and Jambres. 8
He was famous for sorcery and divination with dishes and every [other]
kind of impiety. He also turned out to be a suitable vehicle for the emperor’s
impiety and [evil] inclination, and he worked together with the emperor in
every way to achieve destruction. But the basilisk of impiety, which he
conceived but contained, was brought forth and given birth to by the
emperor, who ordered that the holy icons should be either painted over or
erased. 26 Outside the City, this John built a house of carved stone, known
even in our days 9 as Troullos. There, with the aid of certain sacrifices, he
conversed with demons and predicted the future to the emperor. This house

1 Commander of the scholai (imperial palace guards).

2 This is on the Euphrates.

3 This expedition took place in March-April 837.

4 I.e. that an aqueduct should be built. What may be the foundations of the Bryas palace
have been found on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporos. Skylitzes (see Wortley 2010 p 60
(also with further references with regard to the palace)) gives a somewhat fuller description
of the building project.

5 blue ((3£veto^): the colour of one of the circus factions.

6 ‘white’ (kei)K6q): the colour of another of the circus factions.

7 (paKicovapiiq.

8 This is John VII, the Grammarian, mentioned already above. Chapter 128 § 5 (with
references to 2 Timothy 3.8 and Exodus 7.11 and 22: in Timothy, the two magicians opposing
Moses before Pharaoh are named Jannes and Jambres).

9 Yet another reference to a point in time later than the narrated time.

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remained uninhabited afterwards because of the demonic hauntings that had
occurred at that time. 27 When matters stood thus, the Arabs went out against
Romania with a great force. The emperor marched against them together
with the Persian refugees and the tagmata and Manuel, the domestikos.
When battle was joined, the emperor was defeated and went into hiding in a
crowd of Persians, thinking that they would save him. 1 When Manuel,
looking around, saw that the emperor was among the Persians and understood
that these now were inclined to betray him to the Arabs and, by doing so, be
reconciled with the Arabs, he cut a way through them and seized the bridle
of the emperor’s horse and pulled him out. This he did against the emperor’s
will, and he did it because he considered it an intolerable shame for the
Romans if the Arabs should take their emperor prisoner. Now the emperor
was out of his mind because of fear, and he wanted to join the Persians again.
But Manuel drew his sword as if to strike him. This frightened the emperor
so that he followed, although he did so unwillingly, and he was saved only
with difficulty. From there he shamefacedly returned to Dorylaion, having
suffered a terrible defeat. 28 Having shown proof of much bravery against the
Hagarenes, Manuel was wounded in the war, and he was taken ill and died.
His body was brought to the monastery that he had founded, and he was
buried there; this is the Manuel monastery close to the cistern of Aspor. 2
29 As a consequence of this, many accusations against the Persians were
voiced in front of the emperor, as well as threats against Theophobos, who
was said to be a rebel and a traitor and a man of ill will. On hearing about
this, Theophobos gathered the Persians and went down to Sinope, and he
occupied this city and ruled it harshly. When the emperor heard of this, he
was deeply troubled (for he feared that the Persians might join the Arabs),
and he went as far as Paphlagonia and gave the Persians a promise that they
would not suffer in any way. From there he took Theophobos with him and,
accompanied by him, returned to the City, and the rest of the Persians came
and settled at the same place as before. Because of his orthodoxy Theophobos
was loved by the citizens no less than by the Persians. 30 At this time a child
is born to the emperor by Theodora. 3 The emperor named him Michael.
31 When the emperor went to Blachemai, 4 as was his custom, a man came

1 This is the battle of Anzen (Dazimon), in the Armeniakon thema, 22 July 838.

2 Or: ‘cistern of Aspar,’ in the City.

3 This is the future emperor Michael III, perhaps born 19 January 840.

4 These travels from the Great Palace to the Blachernai were among the best opportu¬

nities for anyone who wanted to accost the emperor (cf. also below, § 42).

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171

forward to him and said: ‘The horse that your Majesty is riding is mine.’
Because of the sudden approach of the man, the horse shied, but the
emperor managed to check it, and he asked the homes of the stables: ‘To
whom does this horse belong?’ He said: ‘The homes of Opsikion sent it to
your Majesty.’ The next day, the emperor brought in the home s of
Opsikion, who happened to be in the City, together with the man who had
approached him, and he asked: ‘Tell me the truth. To whom does this
horse belong?’ The answer was, that ‘it is mine, but the strategos sent for
it and took it from me by force, neither paying me for it nor giving me any
office in return.’ The emperor then said to the homes: ‘Tell me if this is so
and why you sent me the horse without having paid for it.’ The homes
said, that ‘he wanted to become a scholarios} But, since I did not know if
he was man enough, I offered him a hundred solidi? But he refused to take
them. The emperor: ‘But why did you not finish the affair with him in a
proper way before you sent me the horse?’ 3 After this, the emperor made
an investigation and was informed that the homes had taken the man’s
horse by force. He then had the stratelates 4 chastised with the proper
corporal punishment, 5 and he returned the horse to the man who had
approached him. However, the man did not wish to receive the horse back,
so he accepted two litrai instead as payment for it. It was also decided that
the strategos should put him to the test and, if he turned out to be man
enough, to make him a scholarios. But on going to war, when battle was
joined, he turned out to be a coward, and he was found amongst those
fleeing, and he was killed by the enemy. 32 When the emperor attended a
procession at the Bryas, a message was brought to him from the strategos
of Anatolikon, to the effect that the protosymboulos had gone out with an
army in order to destroy Amorion. The emperor paid what was due to the
soldiers and their leaders and then went in haste to Cappadocia. The emir 6
detached 50,000 people together with Soudee, who had the greatest
reputation among the Hagarenes for courage and good sense, and he gave
them their individual payment and sent them against the emperor. When
they met in battle, the emperor was defeated and had to flee, and he

1 Member of the scholai.

2 I.e. as payment for the horse, instead of accepting the horse as payment for office.

3 Or: ‘Why did you send me a horse that had not been properly paid for?’

4 The strategos mentioned above.

5 payXa(3ioig (cf. below, Chapter 131, § 38).

6 This emir is probably the same person as the just mentioned protosymboulos (i.e. the
Abbasid caliph, al-Mu‘tasim: for this kind of confusion, cf. above, §§ 17-18).

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returned ignominiously, saving his life with difficulty. 1 The emir came
with a great force to Amorion, and he surrounded it by a palisade. But,
although he fought several battles, he did not manage to destroy it; for the
people on the inside fought bravely and relentlessly. 33 There was a pupil
of Leo the philosopher in the fortress. 2 When the emir wanted to retreat,
this man, who was an astronomer, 3 conveyed a message to him through
someone and said: ‘If you can last for another two days at the fortress, you
will be able to take us by storm.’ And so it happened. For the fortress was
betrayed by a man called Voiditzes and by Manikofagos. And a number of
well-known men of good family 4 were captured and had to go to Syria as
prisoners. These were: the patrikios Theophilos, the strategoi Melissinos
and Aetios, Theodore the protospatharios, who was a eunuch and also
called Krateros, Kallistos the tour marches? Constantine the droungarios,
Vasoes the dromeus 6 and some of the commanders of the tagmata. These
were put under pressure by the protosymboulos, in order to make them
renounce their faith. On refusing to do this they had their heads cut off by
the sword; for they preferred eternal life to the short life on earth. 34 But,
exchanging shameful delivery for the better salvation, 7 the pupil of Leo
the philosopher had joined the emir. On being asked by the emir about his
scientific knowledge his answer was that he was a pupil of the philosopher
Leo. On learning about Leo and what kind of a man he was, the emir
wanted to meet him. Therefore, he gave a letter for Leo the philosopher to
one of the prisoners and sent him to Constantinople, assuring him that, if
Leo himself came out, he would be held in honour by the emir. 35 When
Leo received the letter, he was afraid that the matter would become
known, so he brought it to emperor Theophilos. When the emperor
became aware of Leo’s knowledge, and that he had such a learned man in
his state, 8 he accommodated him in the Magnaura palace and gave him

1 This is probably the battle already mentioned above, § 27. Amorion was besieged in
early August 838 and eventually captured 12 August.

2 This Leo (ca. 790-after 869), also called the Mathematician, was a well-known
character at the time of the Macedonian Renaissance.

3 I.e. an astrologer.

4 ‘a number ... family’ (t<5v ovopaarav SvSpei; ook ayevveti;): perhaps dyevvsi? is
wrong for 6Wyoi (‘not a few well-known men’).

5 The commander of the tourma (cf. above, § 8).

6 I.e. ‘the runner.’

7 With other words, so as to save his life at the price of his soul.

8 jtoXixsia.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

173

permission to teach and also furnished him with pupils, putting every
necessary convenience at his disposal. This Leo was later even made
metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica. 36 The same emperor builds the
Trikonchos in the palace and the building known as the Sigma 1 and the
scaffolding on which the factions of the people stand, 2 and he also erected
an open courtyard with a fountain 3 where what is called the saximod-
eximon is performed, during which the horses of both sides pass by, 4
wearing golden saddles. Below the Trikonchos, on a lower level, he made
by an ingenious construction what is called the Mysterion, [a room] in
which everything said in one corner can be heard in the other. 37 On
learning that Theophanes, the poet, and his brother Theodore, who lived
by themselves, 5 derided the emperor’s impiety and exposed it, Theophilos
sent for them in anger and had them brought into his presence and said the
following: ‘Where are you from?’ They said: ‘From Palestine.’ And the
accursed man: ‘So why did you leave your country and come to ours, but
still do not obey our authority?’ When they did not answer this, he allowed
their faces to be severely beaten. 38 Later, he had them flogged until they
were at the brink of death, and he said in a roaring rage to the hyparchos :
‘Take them to th zpraitorion and inscribe their foreheads, and engrave the
following verses on them.’ And he added: ‘Never mind if they are not
good! ’ This he said since he knew that the brothers were very accomplished
and very well trained in the details of different kinds of versification.
Someone even added: ‘Anyhow, they are not worth being inscribed with
good iambs.’ But the hrothers said: ‘Write, just write, emperor, whatever
you want to!’ For, they intended 6 to read it before the fearsome and
righteous judge. The hyparchos brought them to the praitorion, and after
two days he had them tied down by their hands and feet and had the verses
tattooed on their faces, and then they were exiled. 39 The blessed
Theodore died in exile, 7 whereas the glorious Theophanes, the poet.

1 This is not the same as the Sigma in the city (cf. Chapter 125, § 3), but part of the same
complex as the Trikonchos exedra in the Great Palace.

2 I.e. during ceremonies.

3 (pi&Xr| (cf. above, 114, § 5, where the same kind of fountain is built for the same
purpose, i.e. the ceremony of the saximodeximori).

4 Or: ‘pass by on both sides.’

5 by themselves : perhaps ‘as hermits.’ These are the famous Graptoi (i.e. ‘inscribed,’ or
‘tattooed’) brothers, enemies of iconoclasm in its last phase.

6 ‘they intended’: or ‘for the emperor would have.’

7 St Theodore died 28 December 840.

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lasted until the reign of Michael and Theodora, having laboured very hard
during the reintroduction of orthodoxy. He was also made a metropolitan
of Nicaea; this was at the time when the religious situation already had
changed for the better. 1 40 During Theophilos’ reign the golden crest on
the statue of Justinian, the one on the column called Augusteus, 2 fell
down. Everyone was at a loss and wondered how it could be possible to
climb up [the column and the statue]. Then a professional acrobat was
found. He climbed the roof tiles of the Great Church and threw a projectile
tied to a rope onto the equestrian statue of Justinian, which was made of
bronze. And when the projectile stuck on it, the acrobat, to the admiration
of the onlookers, went on the rope over to the other side and fitted the crest
into place. Thus he earned the emperor’s gratitude and achieved great
fame for his art and his prowess, and he was rewarded with a hundred
solidi by the emperor. 41 Theophilos crowned Michael, his son, in the
Great Church and, as the custom was, he gave gifts to everyone at the
coronation. 3 42 He also prepared a hospice, which is now called the
Theophilos [hospice]. The building had belonged to Isidore, th epatrikios,
who came from Rome with Olybrios in the time of Constantine the Great.
After some years it had been given to the kourator A in order to
accommodate women of the nobility who did not know how to live in
chastity. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian it was made a guest-house
by the emperor from having been a brothel. Later it became the house of
Constantine, son of Irene; this was after he had been blinded by his
mother. 5 When he died, his wife took monastic robes and made it a
monastery and called it [the monastery of] ‘Repentance.’ 5 7 This house was
extremely large and worthy of admiration. But a beam in the main hall
hung loose and threatened to fall down. The nuns asked the emperor for
help with this when he was on his way to Blachernai, 8 but he refused.
However, it made him aware of the house, and he came to like it, and so
he removes those same nuns to another monastery, and he embellished the

1 7tpd<; t 6 eiiaf'.pfiaTf.pov.

2 This is the statue already mentioned in Chapter 104, § 10.

3 This was perhaps 16 May 840.

4 An administrator of imperial estates. Cf. Chapter 136, § 8. where a kourator of the
Mangana palace is mentioned.

5 This refers to Constantine VI. See Chapter 124, § 20, and Chapter 125, § 3.

6 xct MetovoIck;.

7 Or: ‘in one of the halls (rpiKMVOv).’ The text appears to be slightly corrupt here.

8 Cf. above, § 31.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

175

house in every way and made it into a hospice, and he donated a great lot
of valuables and money to it and estates, and he called it the Theophilos
[hospice]. 43 Before his death, this emperor, hated by God, made a secret
concord with his sympathisers about Theophobos the Persian. For he said:
‘The Persians under my command love Theophobos greatly and have
much faith in him, as do not a few other people in high positions as well.
Therefore, should I die, I fear they may rebel against my son, who is just
a baby, and against my wife.’ He then sent for Theophobos and brought
him to the palace and kept him at his side. When he was worn down by his
illness, he confined Theophobos to the prison chambers at the Boukoleon 1
and, when the Persians started to ask what had happened to him, the
emperor sent the augusta 's brother, Petronas, with the logothete in the
night, and had Theophobos’ head cut off. However, they made the Persians
believe that Theophobos was in the palace with the emperor. 44 When the
emperor had died a terrible death from dysentery, 2 his wretched body was
brought to the Church of the Holy Apostles, whereas the body of
Theophobos was brought in secret from the Boukoleon and taken to safety
at a place close to the Narses monastery, in the monastery now called
Theophobia, 3 and there they deposited it.

131 Michael and Theodora

Michael reigned together with his mother Theodora for fifteen years, alone
for ten years, and together with Basil one year and four months. 4 2 Theodora
was such a faithful and orthodox person that even while her husband was
still alive she honoured and revered the holy icons in secret. It was on her
decision, but at the suggestion and with the encouragement of Theoktistos,

1 This palace was to the south of the Great Palace and with its own harbour at the
Marmara Sea.

2 Theophilos died 20 January 842. This is another example of a bad death of an impious
emperor.

3 I.e. ‘Fear of God,’ alluding to the man’s name.

4 Michael III was formally emperor from the death of Theophilos 20 January 842; he
assumed real power 15 March 856 (see below, § 22), and reigned together with Basil I from
26 May 866 (see § 39) until his death, 23/24 September 867. Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes
(Wortley 2010, pp. 82—115), and Ps.-Symeon 647.3—686.10. Michael’s reign is also covered
by Joseph Genesios’ Chronicle (book 4: Kaldellis 1998), and Theophanes continuatus (book
4: see Featherstone/Signes-Codofler2015).

176

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

177

the kanikleios 1 and logothete, that the patriarch John, who had been raised
together with the empress, 2 was driven out of the Church and the City; the
empress then had him confined to the place known as Kleidion in the
Stenon. She brings in the blessed Methodios, a monk, and installs him as
patriarch. And she brought together all the monks and bishops who had
been exiled by Theophilos and, on the first Sunday in Holy Lent, she
confirmed the orthodox creed and gave peace to the Church. 3 3 Theodora
sent Theoktistos the logothete on an expedition against Crete. 4 When he
came with many men and a great naval force, he put fear into the
Hagarenes who soon could not resist his attack any longer. But when he
learnt that the augusta had made another person emperor, 5 he was even
more upset himself and was happy to flee. This hit him through Saracen
deceit and the venality of his men, and it convinced him that he should
return to the City and leave the army to be slaughtered by the Cretans. 6
4 Having made such a bad impression in Crete, Theoktistos appeared
even worse and even more unsuccessful on his return. For at that time
Amer went out against Romania and pillaged and destroyed everything in
his way, and Theodora and Michael 7 sent this same Theoktistos, who was
considered the most reliable person to them and their foremost intimate,
against Amer. 8 When Theoktistos arrived and went into battle with Amer
at the place called Mauropotamon, he was defeated. 9 He returned to the
City, while many of his men had been killed, whereas others fled to Amer
because of the harsh and hateful behaviour of the logothete. One of these
was Theophanes from Phargana, who excelled in courage and strength;

1 The kanikleios (or, as here, kanikles) was one of the secretaries to the emperor. He had
the duty of guarding the inkstand with coloured ink and was thus invested with symbolic
power that could sometimes be converted into actual power.

2 Or: ‘baptised together at the same ceremony’ (abvteicvov aortic 6vra), an act creating
a symbolic bond.

3 This was 11 March 843, and it marks the formal end of the iconoclast controversy.

4 This was in 843.

5 This was not true at the time. See, however, below (especially from § 19 onwards) on
the subsequent career of Bardas.

6 This sentence is difficult. I would like to thank Constantin Zuckerman for suggesting
the interpretation adopted here.

7 This was in 844 (see below), and it may be kept in mind that Michael was only about
four years old at the time.

8 This is the relatively independent emir of Melitene (Malatya), Umar ibn Abdallah ibn
Marwan al-Aqta.

9 This was the battle of Mauropotamon, in Cappadocia (still in 844).

some years later, he received a pledge of security and fled back to the
Christians. 5 On returning to the City from Crete, Theoktistos
endeavoured to be close to the augusta. Once, on meeting with Bardas,
the brother of the augusta, he came into a dispute with him and blamed
him for the defeat, which he attributed to him by saying that the Roman
army had turned to flight at his instigation and on his decision. Theoktistos
thereupon manages to get Bardas removed from the City, following a
decision by the augusta Theodora. The same Theoktistos, the paradyn-
asteuon under the augusta, had houses and a bath and a garden built in
that which is now called the Apsis. 1 This he did in order to be close to the
palace. But in order to guard himself and for his own security he had an
iron gate built at Daphne, 2 and he ordered that a papias should keep guard
there. 6 When the emperor now had grown into a man, he spent his time
at hunting and competing in chariot races on the double circuit at the
hippodrome, and at all other kinds of impure actions. Now the augusta
Theodora, together with the logothete Theoktistos, decides to give a wife
to her son Michael. For she had noticed that he had become friendly with
Eudokia, the daughter of Inger, a girl whom the logothete and the augusta
hated intensely because of her rudeness. 3 Therefore, they join him to
Eudokia Dekapolitissa, and they crown him together with her in the
Church of St Stephen at Daphne. 4 The banquet was held in the Magnaura,
and the Senate dined in the Hall of the Nineteen Couches. 7 After a short
time the strategos of the Boukellarioi 5 brought a high-spirited, fine horse
to the emperor. Thinking about using it in the races at the hippodrome,
the emperor first wanted to take a look at its teeth (from which the age of
a horse can be gathered) and get to know its temper. But the horse was out
of control and bucked, and the emperor was vexed by this, for he did not
have anyone who by natural ability or knowledge could calm or even
control the horse. When he was venting his annoyance, Theophilitzes,

1 This ‘now’ refers to a time, possibly in the tenth c., later than the time narrated. The
exact location of this Apsis is unclear.

2 Daphne was one of the wings of the Great Palace.

3 It has been supposed that this Inger was of Scandinavian extraction (cf., e.g., the
present-day Norwegian male name Ingar). Later on, Eudokia Ingirina married Basil 1,
became the mistress of Michael III, and played a prominent role as a party animal (see below
§ 32, etc.).

4 I.e. they are joined in marriage. This took place in 855, in the same church in which
Theodora herself had been joined with Theophilos (see above, Chapter 130, § 4).

5 This is one of the themata (administrative and military provinces).

178

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

179

who belonged to the noumera 1 and who was homes of the Wall at that time,
came up. When the emperor said, that ‘I do not have anyone who is man
enough to cope with my horses,’ Theophilitzes replied: ‘My Lord, I have a
young man who is extremely experienced and capable with horses, just the
man your Majesty wants; his name is Basil.’ The emperor ordered that
Basil should come to him at once, so a koitonites 2 was sent to the Iron Gate 3
where he found Basil, and he brought him to the emperor without delay.
Being ordered to hold the horse, Basil held the bridle with one hand and
with the other he touched the horse’s ear and so reduced it to the mildness
of a lamb. At this the emperor was pleased and comforted, and he handed
Basil over to Andreas, who was a hetaireiarches , 4 so that he should belong
to the hetaireia 5 and work with the emperor’s horses. 81 have considered it
necessary to tell the story of this Basil, about his early life and where he
came from, up to the time when these things happened. 6 Basil is born in
Macedonia, in the area around Adrianople, during the reign of Michael
Ragabe, 7 the father of Ignatios the patriarch and the son-in-law of the
emperor Nikephoros through his daughter Prokopia. 9 During his reign
Krum, the ruler of Bulgaria, went out against the Christians and, when
Michael was routed and Leo the Armenian rebelled against him and
usurped the imperial power, Krum came after him 8 and surrounded the
City. But having been ambushed by Leo the Armenian, he turned back to
Bulgaria, and he sent people to St Mamas and took away the bronze statues
there. He also went to Adrianople and occupied it, 9 and he moved 10,000

1 Probably some kind of military unit.

2 A chamberlain (servant appointed to the emperor’s bedchamber); the distinction
between this and koubikoularios (see Chapter 105, § 4) is unclear.

3 Cf. Chapter 135, § 6.

4 A commander of the hetaireia (cf. following note).

5 The exact function of the hetaireia is uncertain, but it seems to have been a guard
force fairly close to the emperor’s person. It is interesting to note that the term is only in
the singular in this text, although it has been supposed that the changes that turned diverse
hetaireiai into one force, occurred as late as the eleventh c. There was probably also at some
time a change as to how the members of the hetaireia(i) were recruited, going from mainly
foreigners (which could be suitable in the case of Basil) to the noble youth of Constantinople.

6 This is the future emperor. It should be noted that this text does not at all hint at an
elevated ancestry to Basil, as suggested by the Vita Basilii and other texts, according to
which he was of royal Armenian descent.

7 I.e. 811-813 (cf. below, n. on § 13).

8 ‘him’: Leo, or possibly Michael. The author makes a simple story less than clear. The
story about Krum’s attack is told above, Chapters 127, § 3, and 128, § 2.

9 Adrianople fell in June 813.

people, not counting the women, and settled them on the other side of the
Danube. 10 In the days of the emperor Theophilos, there was a stratelates
in Macedonia called Kordyles. 1 He had also a son called Bardas who was
very valiant, and this son he left to govern the Macedonians 2 on the other
side of the river Danube in his stead. Kordyles himself came by some
device to Theophilos, who received him with pleasure and who, having
learnt what he wanted, sent ships to take these people and bring them to the
City. 11 The ruler of Bulgaria was Valdimer, the descendant of Krum,
father of Symeon who ruled afterwards. 3 Now, the people 4 decided to come
to Romania with women and children. When Michael the Bulgarian had
arrived in Thessalonica, they started to come over with all their belongings.
On learning this, the homes went against them in order to fight them. At
this the Macedonians despaired and made Tzantzes and Kordyles their
leaders, and they joined battle and killed many, while they made some of
them their prisoners. But those Bulgarians who were not able to come over
attached themselves to the Hungarians, 5 and they informed them about
everything concerning the Macedonians. There also came ships belonging
to the emperor to take them and bring them to the City. At once an infinite
number of Hungarians turned up. On seeing these, the Macedonians shed
tears and cried: ‘God of St Adrian, 6 help us!’ And they drew themselves up
to join battle. But the Turks said to them: ‘Give us all your possessions and
go wherever you want to!’ 12 But the Macedonians did not accept this, and
they remained prepared for battle. This they did for three days, but on the
fourth day they started to embark on their boats. On seeing this, the Turks
joined battle, and this lasted from the fifth hour until evening. At this, the
heathen were routed, and the Macedonians pursued them. On the next day,
when the Macedonians wanted to retreat, the Huns turned up again to fight
them. Then a fairly young Macedonian who later became a hetaireiarches,

1 The events of §§ 10-12 seem to have taken place in 836.

2 ‘Macedonians’ are in the following the Christians belonging to the Byzantine province
of Macedonia (as opposed to the Bulgarian pagans).

3 This seems to be confused: Symeon’s father was Boris/Michael, who reigned
852-889. The first Vladimir(-Rasate) reigned 889-893 and is not relevant for this narrative.
The Bulgarian ruler during the events depicted here must be Omurtag (reigned 814-831),
Malamir (831-836) or Presian I (836-852). It was Malamir who was Krum’s grandson (if the
Greek word, Syyovo^, can be taken to mean precisely this, not just ‘descendant’).

4 I.e. the Bulgarians.

5 Hungarians: in the following also referred to as Turks, or Huns (or pagans).

6 This is probably St Adrian of Nicomedia, Christian martyr in the early fourth c. and
protector of Christians under persecution from pagans.

180 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

called Leo, from the family of the Gomostoi, came forward. He, together
with other Macedonians of good family, routed the enemy and drove them
away. On returning [from the war] they embarked upon the ships and came
safely to the emperor. There they were lavished with gifts by him and then
returned to Macedonia, their own country. 13 Basil was a young man at
this time and had recently returned from captivity. He spent time as a
prisoner during the reign of Leo, the emperor, and Michael the Amorian,
and he came to the City during the time of the emperor Theophilos, when
he was about twenty-five years old. 1 When he was resettled in his own
country, he attached himself as a servant to a strategos of Macedonia
called Tzantzes, 2 and it was because he was not favoured by him in any
way that he came to the City and the Golden Gate. He arrived exhausted by
the journey (it was a Sunday and towards sunset), and he lay down on the
pavement at St Diomedes; this was a public 3 church at the time, and it had
a prosmonarios 4 called Nicholas. 14 During the night a divine voice called
the prosmonarios with the words: ‘Rise and bring the emperor into the
chapel!’ The prosmonarios rose, but could not find anyone except Basil
lying there like a beggar, and he returned to bed. But again, for a second
time, the same voice came to him. He went out and looked around but did
not find anyone, so he went back and closed the gate and returned to bed.
Then suddenly someone hit him in the ribs with a sword 5 and said: ‘Go out
and bring in the man you see sleeping outside the gate; that is the emperor.’
So he went out, eager and terrified, and he found Basil with his pouch and
his staff, and he brought him into the church. And on the following day 6 he
went to the bath with him and gave him new clothes. And he went to the
church and adopted him as his brother, and they rejoiced together. 15 The

1 Basil’s date of birth is a matter of debate, with suggestions ranging from 811 to 835 at
least. This text expressly advocates a date around 811 or slightly later (cf. §§ 8 and 13). This,
however, is problematic in the other end: it makes Basil arguably too old to play the role as
young friend of Michael III (see below, § 16), and it makes him seventy-five years at the time
of his death during a hunting expedition (see Chapter 132, § 27). More seriously, perhaps,
there is then (see the following §) a gap in Basil’s biography of around twenty years—years
supposedly spent in the city (Basil cannot have come into Michael’s life to play a role of the
kind indicated in the sources any earlier than around 855 (Michael was born in 840)).

2 See above, §11.

3 Greek Ka0oA.iKfi.

4 A church caretaker, or warden.

5 Greek pO|vp»ia: this is a very particular word, and it is also used for the Flaming Sword
watching the road to paradise (see above. Chapter 21).

6 Or: ‘on Monday’ (rfj Seuxfpi? f|p£pa).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 181

same Nicholas had a brother who was a doctor and who worked for
Theophilitzes. Coming by chance to his brother, the doctor saw Basil and
was struck by his stature and his manly looks, and he said to his brother:
‘Where does this man come from?’ Nicholas then tells him everything, but
then asked him to keep it a secret. However, when the doctor was sitting at
the table together with Theophilitzes and Theophilitzes was talking to
himself and at last said: ‘I cannot find a suitable man for my horses,’ the
doctor rose and told his master about Basil’s manliness and said: ‘He is just
the man you desire and are looking for.’ So Theophilitzes eagerly sent for
him, and when he saw that Basil had curly hair and a big head, he gave him
the nickname Kephalas 1 and set him to take care of his horses. Thus, in the
manner described and for this reason it came to pass that Theophilitzes
gave Basil to Michael. Up to this point is the story of Basil’s early years.
16 The emperor introduced the same Basil to his mother and said joyously:
‘Look here, mother, what a boy I have hired!’ But she came out, looked at
Basil and then turned away, saying to her son: ‘This, my child, is the man
who will destroy our family.’ But Michael did not believe his mother at all
when she said this, and he did not pay any attention to it. 17 The blessed
Methodios, the patriarch, died and Ignatios, son of Michael the
kouropalates, is appointed in his place. 2 18 Since the Bulgarians made
raids in Thrace and Macedonia and pillaged these themata, Theodora
made a levy of men and, emerging from the fortresses in small scattered
groups, these attacked the Bulgarians who were ravaging the country, and
they killed them pr made them prisoners. 3 Thus the Bulgarians were
subdued and forced to remain in their own country. 19 Caesar Bardas
became friendly with Damianos the patrikios and parakoimomenos.
Damianos seized the emperor and persuaded him that Bardas should be
allowed to enter the City. 4 Having brought the emperor’s intimates over to
his side by gifts, Bardas was then ordered to come to the palace together
with the parakoimomenos. Having made friends also with Theophanes the
protospatharios, called Phalganos, a valiant man, they, together with
Damianos, decide to kill Theoktistos the kanikleios. The emperor too was
won over to this plan by Damianos and gave his approval to it. For Bardas
kept saying to Damianos: ‘As long as Theoktistos is with the augusta, the

1 ‘(Big-)head.’

2 This was in the summer of 847. Michael the kouropalates is emperor Michael I
Ragabe.

3 This is of uncertain date, perhaps 846 (or later).

4 On Bardas’ exile, see above, § 5.

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emperor will never rule or be free to act.’ 20 Theoktistos, as was his habit,
went to the bath in the Areovindos district. 1 He then went to the asekreteia 2
carrying the reports, and from there he entered the Lausiakon. 3 Looking
around, he saw Bardas, who was sitting there occupied with something, 4
and he was very upset and said: ‘I am going in to the augusta and I will
have him chased away.’ When he had come as far as the Horologion, 5 he
met Michael himself together with Damianos, and he was not allowed to
go in to Theodora. Instead, he 6 furiously asked Theoktistos to open his
reports and read them in front of him. And when he was unwilling to do so,
he was forced to turn round and leave, and so he left, weeping and wailing
bitterly. In the Lausiakon Bardas came up to him and started to beat him in
the face and tear his hair. On seeing this, the droungarios of the vigla,
Maniakes, rose and protested and told Bardas not to beat the logothete. But
Bardas replied that he was doing so by the emperor’s orders. On Damianos’
instigation also the emperor turned up and, on seeing him, Bardas and
Theophanes Phalganos take hold of the logothete and slaughter him and
cut him into pieces fit for dogs, displaying the cruelty and brutality of wild
beasts. 21 Having been told about this by the papias, Theodora went out
and, as is reasonable, vented her fury against Michael and those who had
carried out the murder. And although the emperor tried in every way to
placate his mother, she remained entirely unimpressed and with
undiminished anger, and she did not let anyone console her; when she was
spoken to, she let herself be consoled and conciliated just as much as a
wave of the sea. 7 When this became evident, it was as if the emperor
changed soul and mind, and as much as he had earlier tried to serve the
empress, he now, by his demeanour and his actions, tried to hurt her. He
even forced his sisters Thekla, Anastasia and Anna to leave the palace, and
he brought them to the monastery in the Karianos district. But Poulcheria,

1 The murder of the logothete Theoktistos, described in this section, took place 20
November 855.

2 Department of imperial administration (in this case probably archives).

3 A hall at the southern end of the Great Palace complex, close to the Chrysotriklinos.

4 Or: 'looking busy’ (Greek gpjtpaxov).

5 Another hall ('Sun-Dial Hall’) in the Great Palace (and not identical with the
well-known Horologion of St Sophia, cf. Wortley 2010, p. 214, n. 53). Cf. also below, § 31,
and Chapter 136, § 43, where the same Horologion as here must be intended.

6 Michael, or possibly Damianos (the Greek has the passive £ksXsuc9t|).

7 This harks back to Euripides’ Medea, lines 28-29: dx; 5£ itfitpoi; fj OaX&aaioc kXOScov
&KOUEI voo0SToup£vn cpiXcov / ‘She is as deaf to the advice of her friends as a stone or a wave
of the sea’ (transl. D. Kovacs).

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183

who was the favourite of his mother, he sent to the monastery of Gastria.
Shortly afterwards, he had them all united in the monastery of Gastria and
made into nuns, donning the monastic garb. 22 Being unanimously
acclaimed by the Senate Michael starts to rule on his own, and he makes
Bardas a magistros and domestikos of the scholai .’ But because of what he
had done to hurt her and because of the unjust murder of Theoktistos, his
mother refused to be reconciled with him, and there was open hostility
between them. Therefore, he removed her from the palace and sent her to
the monastery called Gastria. She was very much upset by this and unable
to think clearly because of the shock, and so, in a manner unworthy of
herself, she makes a plan against Bardas. For this plan she took the
emperor’s protostrator 2 and many others into her confidence, and she
decided that Bardas should be killed when he returned from his estate at
Kosmidion. 23 Their plan was exposed before it was put into practice, and
the evil was turned against the planners themselves. For they were found
out and apprehended and had their heads cut off in the Sphendone. And so
Michael makes Basil a protostrator in the place of the one who had died,
and he also makes his uncle Bardas a kouropalates. At this time thick dust
with the colour of blood 3 fell from heaven and down upon the roof tiles,
and many people found stones red as blood in the streets and in gardens.
Michael promotes Antigonos, the son of Bardas, to domestikos of the
scholai. To Bardas’ other son 4 he had given a wife. But he was deceived by
her. So the emperor makes him monostrategos 5 of the Western themata; he
then died there. After short while, on the Tuesday of the Diakinesimos, 6
Michael promotes his uncle Bardas to caesar, and Bardas rode in a chariot
and distributed largesse in the Mese. 24 Also Amer went out, and he
came down as far as Sinope 7 and, having pillaged all Roman territory,
returned without being caught by the Roman army. 25 Michael goes out

1 This was 15 March 856.

2 First of the stratores, imperial grooms with a duty to accompany the emperor when on
horseback.

3 This is a reference to Saharan dust. The Greek (x6vig ... aipattbSTit irXfjptiq) is a little
odd. afpaxo? 7tXr|pr|<g, as in some MSS, would do, but there seems to be an error in the
transmission.

4 The name of this son (and his wife) is unknown.

5 This title occurs only here in this text but a couple of times elsewhere, e.g. in
Theophanes. It is of somewhat uncertain meaning: by Mango/Scott 1997 it is translated as
‘commander-in-chief,’ or generalissimo (see in particular p. 550, n. 4).

6 This was 26 April 862, the week after Easter (‘New Week’).

7 This expedition of the emir of Melitene took place in 863.

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185

▼

with an army together with Caesar Bardas, and he moves against Michael, 1
the ruler of Bulgaria, on land and sea. This he did since he had learnt that
the Bulgarian people were suffering famine. On learning of his approach
the Bulgarians retreated as at the sound of thunder and, even before the
action and the battle had begun, they despaired about their chances for
victory, and they asked to become Christians and to subject themselves to
the emperor and the Romans. Thus the emperor had their leader christened
and received him and gave him his own name. He also had all the
Bulgarian noblemen brought to the City and christened there. 2 From this
moment there was profound peace. 26 Amer went out again against
Romania, and Petronas, who was stratelates of the East, and Nasar of the
Boukellarioi lay in ambush for him at the road where he had to return.
They met with Amer at Lalakaon, and there is a skirmish, and they rout
him and, when he flees, he is hunted down by one of the komites, who cut
off his head and brought it back to Petronas the stratelates? When the
strategoi came to the City with the spoils, they made a triumphant display
of them in the hippodrome. After this, because of the killing of Amer
there was total peace also in the East. And to others belonged the toil and
the valiant deeds against the enemy, but the emperor’s love for Basil
grew, and he considered him to be the only one who could really serve
him. 27 Michael built a stable for his horses and embellished it with
marble slabs, and he had water fountains constructed in it and made it
very beautiful. Now, there was a man in the City called Peter, who was
witty and given to mockery, also called Ptochomagistros. 4 When the
stable was finished, Michael invited this man to the stable and showed
him the unreasonable splendour of the building. This he did because he
wanted to be praised by Peter, and he also said, ‘I will always be
remembered by this building project.’ But Peter said to the emperor:
‘Justinian built the Great Church, and he had it decorated with gold and
silver and precious marble, and nobody remembers him nowadays. And
you, emperor, who have made a dung-deposit and a resting-place for

1 Still called Boris at this time (cf. following n.).

2 The expedition against Bulgaria, leading to the christening of this nation, took place
in 864-865. Michael III acted as godfather to the Bulgarian prince Boris, who took the name
ofMichael.

3 Amer was killed 3 September 863 in the battle at the river Lalakaon, in north-western
Anatolia.

4 ‘(the) poor magistros’; cf. the sobriquet Ptochoprodromos for Prodromos, author of

satirical verse.

horses, 1 you think that you will be remembered by this?’ Failing to receive
the expected praise, the emperor was infuriated, and he had
Ptochomagistros kicked out and beaten. 28 There was a rumour going
around that Caesar Bardas was sleeping with his fiancee. 2 On hearing
this, the patriarch Ignatios repeatedly pleaded with him to abstain from
this scandalous act and not become a stumbling block for many people,
he who, instead, should be an example of virtue and a chaste way of life.
But Bardas did not obey this, but violently attacked the patriarch who was
accusing him and entreating him to be chaste. At one time, when Bardas
was about to receive Holy Communion, the patriarch turned him away for
not obeying the ecclesiastical canons and the recommendations given to
him. Bardas was struck with anger in his soul, and he chased the man
who exhorted him away from the church and called him lawless and
corrupt, and he subjected him to endless, brutal torture, which made the
patriarch resign. However, he does not give in, 3 and he appoints Photios
patriarch instead of Ignatios, Photios who was a protasekretis at that time
and a very learned man. 4 29 Having left Ooryphas, a hyparchos, in the
City to guard it, the emperor went on an expedition against the Hagarenes. 5
But before the emperor had achieved anything that he planned and had in
mind, Ooryphas announced the arrival of the godless Russians; the
emperor was already at Mauropotamon 6 when this happened. So the
emperor turned away from the road on which he was travelling. Nor 7 did
he achieve anything worthy of an emperor, or noble, while he was
travelling on the road back to the City. But the Russians had already
arrived inside Hieron, 8 and they had murdered many Christians and shed

1 Or: ‘senseless animals’ (Greek 4X6ycov).

2 I.e. they were suspected of having pre-marital sex.

3 too 86 pf| 7t£K50evtO(;: this is vague, but taken here to refer to Bardas. Otherwise,
Ignatios is intended, meaning that he had an opportunity to apologise and stay patriarch
after all.

4 With other words, Photios was a layman. The change of patriarchs took place in
October 858.

5 The events of §§ 29-30 (the war against the Arabs and the simultaneous attack
by the Rus on Constantinople) took place in 860. This is the first recorded attack of
the Rus (whether they be Russians proper or Scandinavians). See also Wortley 2010,
pp. 107-108.

6 This is in Cappadocia.

7 The text is difficult at this point and may be corrupt.

8 I.e. they were already travelling down the Bosphorus. The remains of the fortress of
Hieron still stand on the north-eastern shore of the Bosphorus, overlooking the Black Sea.

<■

186 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

much innocent blood. Two hundred ships were surrounding the City and
causing great fear to those inside. 30 When the emperor arrived at the
City, he came through [the blockade] with difficulty. Together with the
patriarch Photios he came to the Church of the Mother of God at
Blachernai, where they try to placate and propitiate the Divine. They took
out the holy omophorion 1 of the Mother of God, and they brought it to the
shore and dipped it into the water. And, although there was a calm, winds
suddenly came up and, although the sea was still, successive waves rose
against each other, and the ships of the godless Russians were broken into
pieces, and few of them escaped the danger. 31 When Caesar Bardas,
dressed in a silk skaramangion , 2 came to the Horologion in procession,
Damianos the patrikios and parakoimomenos, who was sitting there, did
not rise in his honour. 3 On seeing this, the caesar was extremely angered
and, going into the Chrysotriklinos 4 and seating himself close to the
emperor, he wept in fury and rage. The emperor asked for the reason, and
he said: ‘At your Majesty’s behest, I have been considered worthy of great
honour. But in disrespect of me and of your Majesty, Damianos the
parakoimomenos did not rise to me in front of the Senate.’ This infuriates
the emperor and at once he orders a certain Maximianos, a koitonites, to
apprehend Damianos and to bring him to the emporium of St Mamas and
tonsure him as a monk there and order that he should be kept under guard.
And on the same day he promotes Basil the protostrator to the rank of
parakoimomenos. But the caesar became envious on hearing this, and
from this time on he wanted to kill Basil. 32 Michael divorced Basil from
his wife Mary and gave him Eudokia Ingirina as wife, and he ordered him
to have her as his official wife. She was the emperor’s concubine, and he
loved her dearly because of her beauty. But to Basil’s former wife Mary
he gave gold and other things, and he sent her home to Macedonia. His
own sister, Thekla, Michael attached to Basil as his mistress. 33 From
this time on, the caesar and Basil watched each other with suspicion, and
both looked for an opportunity to kill the other. Basil slandered the caesar
in private and said that he plotted against him. 5 But the emperor considered

1 I.e. robe or veil. Cf. Chapter 136, § 32, where Romanos I Lekapenos employs the
omophorion against Symeon the Bulgarian.

2 A long tunic, worn by emperors but also by others (in this text only mentioned for
Caesar Bardas and for Basil on becoming emperor).

3 Cf. above, § 20, and the similar setting for the murder of Theoktistos.

4 A reception hall in the Great Palace.

5 I.e. that Caesar Bardas plotted against Basil, or possibly against the emperor.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE 187

this nonsense. In his eagerness to furnish information to the emperor,
Basil becomes friendly with Symbatios, the patrikios and logothetes tou
dromou, the son-in-law of the caesar. By oaths they guaranteed each
other that they would be of one mind and in constant affection. Basil also
told Symbatios under a terrible oath: ‘The emperor has great affection for
you, and I too work for your sake. He thinks about making you caesar but,
because of your father-in-law, he cannot do that.’ Deceived by Basil’s
oaths Symbatios became the enemy of Caesar Bardas, his own father-in-
law, and he went in to the emperor and told him under oath: ‘The caesar
wants to kill you’; and he told everything about the plan. The emperor
believed what Symbatios said under oath and, being confirmed in his
belief by what Basil said, he secretly began to make plans against the
caesar. 34 Knowing that everything was well prepared against the caesar
but not being able to put any plans into practice in the City, Basil persuades
the emperor to deploy a fleet and an army against Crete. When this
happened, Leo the philosopher entreated Caesar Bardas to keep calm and
to watch out for Basil. And, for his part, the caesar begged the emperor
once again to protect him from Basil. On the day of the Annunciation 1 a
procession was made to the Chalkoprateia and, when the entry had taken
place 2 and the gospel had been read, the patriarch Photios and the
emperor, together with the caesar and Basil the parakoimomenos, went
up to the catechumens, 3 and the patriarch held the honourable body and
blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in his hands. And the emperor and Basil
dipped their hands in ]ioly water and made the sign of the Holy Cross, and
they reassured the caesar by oaths 4 that he could make the expedition
together with them without fear. For Leo the philosopher had told Bardas
explicitly that he should not set out with them, saying that, if he did so, he
would not return. 35 After the celebration of Holy Easter the emperor set
out with a great army, and he arrived in the thema of Thrakesion. 5 When
they came to Kepoi, 6 Basil the parakoimomenos proceeded with his plan to
kill the caesar. Marianos, his brother, was involved in this plan, and
Symbatios and Bardas, [also] 7 his brothers, and Asyleon, his cousin, and

1 Greek euayyeXtap6<;: this was 25 March 866.

2 I.e. into St Sophia.

3 I.e. into the galleries.

4 Thereby, as we shall see, committing a kind of perjury {ante factum).

5 In western Asia Minor.

6 A mustering point for the military forces at the Meander river (in western Asia Minor).

7 This is a little oddly put. However, on Basil’s brothers see also below, § 50.

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Peter the Bulgarian and John the Chaldean and Constantine Toxaras. John
Neatokometes understood what was going on, and therefore he went down
to the caesar’s tent at sunset. There he met with Prokopios, the caesar’s
protovestiarios, and he told him in earnest: ‘Tomorrow our lord caesar will
be cut down and slaughtered.’ Prokopios entered the tent and informed the
caesar about this. But on hearing this, the caesar said to Prokopios: ‘Go and
tell Neatokometes: “You are talking nonsense; you know that you are a
young man, and the office of patrikios does not suit you. This is the reason
why you stir up these tares.’” 1 36 Having spent a sleepless night, Bardas
gathered all his men together before daybreak, and he revealed to them
what he had been told, and he asked for their advice. Philotheos, the
protospatharios and genikos, and a personal friend of his, said to the
caesar: ‘Tomorrow, my Lord, dress in your golden 2 coat and show yourself
to your enemies; and they will flee from your sight!’ 3 37 At sunrise Bardas
mounted his horse and arrived at the emperor’s camp with a splendid
display of men surrounding him; his protostrator was the noble Eustathios
Argyros. But at Basil’s behest Constantine Toxaras came forward to meet
him, and he knelt in front of Bardas and then turned back and announced
the caesar’s arrival to Basil. Basil too went out and knelt in front of him
and took him by the hand and brought him to the emperor. The caesar sat
down with the emperor and said: ‘All the people, my Lord, are gathered
together. Now order them to cross to Crete.’ Behind them stood Basil. With
his hand he made a threatening sign against the caesar. Suddenly, the
caesar turned around and saw Basil who threatened him. At that instant
Basil struck Bardas with his sword, and the others who were there cut him
limb from limb while the emperor watched in silence. 38 This was at the
third hour of the day. Immediately afterwards, the emperor and Basil
turned back towards the City. When they came as far as the emporium of
Akritas, a lot of people had gathered together to see the emperor. Among
these there was a man dressed in monastic habit standing on a high cliff
and shouting to the emperor: ‘A splendid expedition, indeed, O emperor,
that you have killed your own kinsman and your paternal blood by the
sword. Woe unto you, woe unto you, for what you have done.’ This
infuriates the emperor, and he and Basil send Morotheodoros, the

1 ‘stir up these tares’: this is Matthew 13.25.

2 ‘golden’: the text has xpuoorespaiKdv, which is difficult (it is unknown from other
texts). Perhaps xpuao 7 tEpiK>.£ioTOV (‘with golden rims’), known from De Cerimoniis, is the
required word.

3 This is Deuteronomy 28.7.4 (cf. Judith 14.3.5).

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

189

manglabites ,' to kill the monk with a sword. But the people closed in upon
him who had been sent, 2 and they pleaded for the monk, saying that he was
mad and possessed by a spirit; and so, although with difficulty, he escaped
punishment. 39 Late on the Saturday of Pentecost, the emperor, through
his protovestiarios Rentakios, commanded Photios the patriarch to make
announcement of Basil’s ascent to the throne. 3 And on the following day
two sedan chairs were brought out [from the palace]. This troubled the
people: how could it be that two chairs were brought out when there was
only one emperor? When the emperor went in the procession, Basil walked
behind him wearing a skaramangion with a sword, as is the custom for the
parakoimomenos. When the emperor came to the imperial doors, he did
not, as is the custom of emperors, put down his crown. Instead, he kept it
on until he came to the holy gates, 4 and he turned aside, and still with the
crown on his head he ascended the three steps of the ambo. Just below the
emperor stood Basil the parakoimomenos, and below Basil, Leo the kastor 5
and asekretis, who held an imperial tomos 6 in his hands, and Michael the
praipositos, 1 called Angouris, and the demarchs 8 together with the demes.
40 Thus Leo the asekretis started to read, saying that ‘Caesar Bardas
plotted against me in order to kill me, and for this reason he lured me away
from the City and, if this had not been announced to me by Symbatios and
Basil, I would not be among the living. Bardas died as a consequence of his
own sin. Now I want Basil the parakoimomenos, who is faithful to me and
who guards my imperialpower and who has saved me from my enemy and
loves me dearly, to be the guardian of my power and to take care of me, and
I want him to be universally hailed as emperor.’ At this, Basil’s eyes were
filled with tears. The emperor took the crown from his own head and gave
it to Photios, the patriarch. Photios took the crown to the altar 9 and prayed

1 Or: ‘ maglabites ,’ a kind of police officer responsible for corporal punishment (cf

above. Chapter 130, § 31). 1

2 I.e. Morotheodoros.

3 Basil was crowned 26 May 866.

4 Of St Sophia.

5 The meaning of this is uncertain: perhaps the title of quaestor is hiding here; otherwise
it might be a personal name.

6 A roll (or, at least, document) containing a decree.

7 Earlier the title of the head chamberlain (cf. above. Chapter 103, § 3) at this time it
probably entails a ceremonial function in the palace (see, e.g„ the following paragraph where
praipositoi assist at the crowning ceremony of Basil I).

8 Perhaps the leaders of the circus factions.

9 I.e. into the hidden, holy area.

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THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

over it. And the praipositoi brought a divitision x and tzangia 2 and dressed
Basil in them. Having donned the chlamys 3 he fell before the emperor’s feet.
And the patriarch came out and 1 2 3 4 took the crown from the emperor’s head and
handed it to him in his hands. And when the sceptres fell, Michael crowned
Basil in the customary way, and everyone cried in acclamation: ‘Long live
Michael and Basil!’ 41 The kastor and asekretis , 5 who had read the tomos out
loud, came to Nicomedia and went to a monastery for men, built in the middle
of a swamp, where he remained. There was a well there, and the man fell into
it and was drowned, and he was buried there. 6 42 When Symbatios, who was
the son-in-law of the caesar, was not given the office of caesar, he realised
that he had been deceived by Basil, and he started to hate him, and he agreed
with George Peganes, the stratelates, that on the next day he should ask to be
made a strategos. Instead of him Goumer, who also was komes of Opsikion,
was made logothetes tou dromou. And Symbatios and Peganes went out
together and started to ravage and burn cornfields and vineyards (for it was
harvest time), and rejecting Basil they hailed Michael alone. On learning
this, the emperors ordered the rest of the stratelatai to overcome them.
Nikephoros Maleinos made a plan: he threw written documents everywhere
among the people, telling them to apprehend the men secretly and not fight
them openly and so risk a civil war. And so everyone let the men alone. 7
43 Peganes was apprehended, and they took him and brought him into the
City. On the orders of the emperor, the eparchos Constantine Myares blinds
him, and they placed him at the Milion and put a vessel in his hands, and
everyone who passed by could throw into it whatever they wanted to and
happened to have handy. And thirty days later Symbatios the Armenian was
seized by Maleinos in a guest-house in Keltzene, 8 and Maleinos brought him
to the emperor who was at St Mamas. And on the orders of the emperor they
bring Peganes to meet Symbatios, and they put a pottery censer in Peganes’

1 A silk tunic dress.

2 Shoes, in this case of the elegant kind and in the colour (red/purple) reserved for the
emperor.

3 A cloak.

4 There may be a short lacuna here, and perhaps we should read something like: ‘and the
patriarch came out, put the crown on the emperor’s head (uttered a prayer), took the crown,
etc.’

5 Le. Leo (see above, § 39).

6 This bad death is obviously thought to be the just punishment for the man’s partici¬
pation in the promotion of Basil.

7 I.e, presumably, withdrew all support from them.

8 A fortified city on the Euphrates, in eastern Anatolia.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

191

hands with sulphur as perfume, and they blind the same Symbatios in one
eye and cut off his right hand. Then they put him at Lausos 1 and gave him a
vessel in his lap so that whoever was inclined to do so, could throw him
something. And three days later they brought the men to their own houses
and kept them under surveillance there. 44 The emperor Michael sent an
engineer 2 called Lamaris and had Constantine Kaballinos taken out of his
grave. 3 He found the body in good shape, but when he wanted to put him in a
bag, Constantine Kaballinos did not fit into it, so he had to be wrapped up in
a cloth. Likewise, he took the patriarch Jannes 4 from his grave together with
his omophorion. And these were, on the orders of the emperor, locked into
the praitorion for two days by the hyparchos, 5 and on a day with races in the
hippodrome the hyparchos had them taken out and stripped of their robes
and corporally punished, and he sent their bones to the Amastrianos 6 to be
burnt. The emperor had Kopronymos’ sarcophagus, a wondrous work out of
green stone, sawn up, and he had it made into a balustrade for the church that
he built in the palace at Pharos. 7 45 The emperor Leo was bom to Michael
and Eudokia Ingerina. 8 This was while Michael was still alive, on the first of
the month of September, in the fifteenth 9 year of the indiction. 10 46 The

1 I.e. they were placed where a lot of people were bound to pass by: Lausos (chiefly the
name of a palace) was probably located between the hippodrome and the Mese, and close to
the already mentioned Milion.

2 puxaviicdi;.

3 This is Constantine V, also nicknamed Kopronymos. The reason why Constantine
is picked out for this bizarre punishment port mortem could, perhaps, be his status as an
ideological leader of iconoclasm (cf. also above. Chapter 124, § 21). According to Theophanes
contmuatus and Skylitzes (see Wortley 2010, p. 107), the tomb was put to new use as a prison
for Patriarch Ignatios.

4 I.e. John the Grammarian, the prominent iconoclast patriarch (see Chapter 128 S 5

etc.). ’ 3 ’

5 Perhaps wrong for eparchos, an official more likely to be responsible for punishments.

6 This was an open space to the west of the Forum Bovis.

7 The Church of the Virgin in the Great Palace.

8 It is a very surprising statement that Leo VI was the natural son of Michael III. A
parallel, also pointing at the promiscuity of Michael and Basil (and of Eudokia Ingerina), is
constituted by the case ofPrince Constantine (see chapter 132, § 18), where, conversely, it is
hinted (with less conviction) that Basil, rather than Michael, was the biological father.

9 This would be 1 September 866. Sometimes his birth is put at 19 September (so
V. Grumel (Echos d'Orient 35 (1936), pp. 331-333)).

10 An indiction is originally a period for taxation. The term is used in Byzantine times for
a fifteen-year cycle. That the term is used occasionally from here on (often, as we shall see,
erroneously), may point at a change of authorship, or main source, of the text.

192 THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

emperor also arranged horse races at St Mamas and drove for the Blue
party. Constantine the Armenian (he was the father of Thomas the
patrikios and of Genesios 1 ), droungarios of the vigla, drove with white
colours, and Agallianos drove with green colours, and Krasas with red.
When the emperor had won and had sat down to dinner together with
Basil and Eudokia, 2 Basiliskianos the patrikios praised the emperor for
driving his chariot so skilfully. At this the emperor ordered him to stand
up and to accept the emperor’s tzangia as a gift and to put them on. 3
When Basiliskianos hesitated to do so and looked towards Basil, the
emperor ordered him in fury to do it. Now Basil nodded assent, and
Basiliskianos put the shoes on. But the emperor cursed loudly and said to
Basil: ‘They suit him better than they suit you! And should I, who made
you an emperor, not have the power to make also another man emperor?’
And he vented his fury against Basil openly. But Eudokia wept and said
to the emperor: ‘The imperial office, my Lord, is very grand and we, too,
have been honoured undeservedly, and it is not right to treat it with
contempt.’ But the emperor said: ‘Do not worry about that. For I want to
make Basiliskianos an emperor, too.’ 47 Basil was greatly angered and
distressed by this. When the emperor went out to the kynegion , 4 a monk
came towards him and gave him a piece of writing which described
Basil’s plot against him. On reading this, the emperor became angry and
started, in his turn, to plot against Basil. On being invited by his mother
Theodora to Anthemios 5 the emperor sent Rentakios, his protovestiarios,
together with other men, who were his intimates, to do some hunting and
to send the catch to his mother. 6 48 Basil prepared himself against
Michael and was in a terrible mood. 7 When the emperor sat down to
dinner, he called upon Eudokia and Basil to sit close to him and to dine

1 This may be Joseph Genesios, the historian (cf. Kaldellis 1998).

2 This is Eudokia Ingerina, at this time Basil’s wife and the alleged mistress of
Michael.

3 This is, of course, most inappropriate, since shoes of this type could only be worn by
an emperor.

4 Perhaps the hunting park mentioned in Chapter 69, § 2.

5 This was a place in Chrysopolis with a monastery.

6 Perhaps in order to pave the way for reconciliation?

7 This elaborate description of the murder of Michael III is very different from that of
the Vita Basilii and Skylitzes, etc., where Basil is said to be under a very real threat from
Michael. The description of the present text is also by far the most graphic and detailed,
leaving no doubt about Basil’s active participation in the deed and his guilt.

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with him. 1 Now, when the emperor had drunk a lot of wine, Basil rose
with the excuse that he needed to perform a private function, and he went
to the emperor’s bedchamber and bent its key (he was a strong man) so
that the door could not be locked. He then returned and continued to dine
with the emperor. 49 When Michael had done even more drinking—with
Ingerina, as usual, contributing to his enjoyment—he rose and, supported
by Basil, went to his bedroom, and Basil kissed his hand and left. 2 In the
bedchamber there was Basiliskianos, who on the emperor’s orders slept
in Rentakios bed, so as to be able to protect the emperor. Ignatios the
koitonites went to lock the door of the bedchamber but found that it 3 had
been twisted. This disconcerted him, and he sat down on the bed tearing
his hair. 50 Now the wine-sozzled emperor was sleeping a sleep similar
to death. When Basil suddenly arrived, with some other men, and opened
the door, Ignatios came out and in terror entreated Basil not to enter. But
Peter the Bulgarian passed under Basil’s armpit and went straight to the
emperor s bed. There he was apprehended by Ignatios who tried to plead
with him, at which the emperor woke up. At once John the Chaldean
struck the emperor with his sword and cut off his hands. And Jakobitzes
... the apelates , 5 the Persian—these men wounded Basiliskianos with
the sword and threw him off his feet. Marianos and Bardas, the father of
Basil the rector , 6 and Symbatios, Basil’s brothers, and Asyleon, who was
Basil’s cousin, and Constantine Toxaras—all these stood on guard
outside, and none of Michael’s men understood what was happening.
51 Then Basil and his, men gathered together to discuss the situation.
Asyleon said to Basil, that ‘even if we have cut off his hands, we have still
left him alive and, if he lives, what can we say in our defence?’ And as a
favour to Basil he turned back and found Michael lying on his couch,
without hands, and wailing pitiably against Basil. Showing no mercy
Asyleon planted his naked sword in the heart of the emperor, and he cut

1 This dinner and the subsequent murder took place in the Anthimos palace.

2 This, with the act of kissing, could be a kind of allusion to Judas Iscariot.

3 I.e., presumably, the key.

4 There seems to be a lacuna in the text at this point: comparing with Chapter 132, § 2,
we have reason to be believe that Jakobitzes and the Persian apelates were two different
individuals. § 52 below shows that there were several Persians (or rather: Armenians)
involved in this episode.

5 An apelates was a lightly equipped irregular soldier on frontier duty or engaged in
brigandage, often of foreign origin.

6 A high-ranking palace official.

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through his intestines. He then went back to the others and bragged about
the matter in front of Basil—as if he had done a most valiant deed.
52 There was a storm at sea [that night], and Basil’s men gathered together
and went down to Perama 1 and crossed over to the house of Eulogios the
Persian, and they took him with them and went to the Marina
neighbourhood 2 and up through the wall and to the palace. There was a
slab, which supported 3 the wall. Basil took two of his men with him and
kicked the slab and brought it down, and so they were able to get through
and to the palace gates. Eulogios the Persian spoke in his own tongue 4 to
Artavasdos the hetaireiarches and said: ‘Michael has been killed by the
sword, so open for the emperor!’ 53 And Artavasdos ran to the papias
and took the keys from him by force and opened up for Basil who, when
he came inside, took personal control of the palace keys; on the following
morning he made Gregory, with the by-name ‘of Philemon,’ papias. At
once Basil sends a messenger to St Mamas, and so he brought Eudokia,
daughter of Inger, to the palace with great ceremony. He also sent John
the praipositos to take the Dekapolitissa 5 and bring her to her parents.
54 Basil sent Paul the koitonites to bury Michael. Arriving there, Paul
found him wrapped in the saddlecloth of the right horse that he drove, 6
and he found his intestines hanging out. He also found Michael’s mother
and sisters there, weeping and lamenting over him. And he put Michael
on a barge and crossed over to the monastery of Chrysopolis 7 and had
him buried there.

1 On the Golden Horn, about at the site of the modern Galata bridges.

2 Ta Marines: around the palace of the same name.

3 nspitppdoaouaa.

4 I.e., presumably, in Armenian.

5 I.e. Eudokia Dekapolitissa, wife of Michael III.

6 Presumably one of a chariot pair used for circus games.

7 Michael was buried in the Philippikos monastery in Chrysopolis.

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195

132 How Basil Achieved Imperial Power 1

Basil reigned for one year and four months together with Michael, and for
nineteen years alone. 2 He ordered the hyparchos and 3 Marianos, son of
Petronas, to go up to the Forum and proclaim him sole emperor in the
presence of the whole people. 21 have considered it necessary to write also
about God’s vengeance upon those who laid hands on Michael and to tell
what happened to each of them respectively. 4 Jakobitzes went hunting with
the emperor in the Philopation 5 when, dropping his sword and getting
down to pick it up, before his foot had reached the ground, and while his
other foot was still stuck in the stirrup, 6 his horse was frightened and
dragged him through gullies and hollows and caused him to be torn to
pieces. John the Chaldean, who had become stratelates in Chaldea, 7 was
detected plotting against the emperor and, on the emperor’s orders, was
impaled by the stratelates Andreas. The emperor’s cousin, Asyleon, was
forced by the emperor to go into retirement at his estate called the
Chartophylax and, since he was cruel and brutal towards his slaves, he was
murdered by them with daggers during the night. The emperor seized
these people, and had them cut to pieces and burnt them in the Amastrianos.

1 This is a slightly unsuitable and anomalous heading (Greek T)jkb? dtcpuirias tffe

Paatkeiai; BaaiXeto?). The chapter does not deal with Basil’s road to power (this is dealt
with in the previous chapter) but is rather the normal kind of chapter about an emperor’s
reign. r

2 Basil I reigned, as a co-emperor to Michael, 26 May 866-23 September 867 and,
as senior emperor, until 29 August 886. Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley 2010,
pp. 116-164), Ps.-Symeon 686.11-699.22, and Vita Basilii (Sevienko 2011). The story told
here (starting in the previous chapter), painting an indifferent or negative picture of Basil,

stands in stark contrast with Vita Basilii in particular. J

3 There are two textual problems involved here: first, whether the title should be ■

hyparchos or eparchos and, second, whether one or two persons are implied, i.e. whether

Marianos is the hyparchos/eparchos himself or if he is rather accompanied by such an j

official. Ps. Sym 687.6 mentions no active person but Marianos (‘Marianos, the hyparchos
and son of Petronas’). However, the MSS of this text unanimously state that two different
persons are meant.

4 This excursus recounts the typical bad death of evildoers. For the formula (‘I have
considered it necessary’), cf. Chapter 109, § 10, and Chapter 131, § 8.

5 Philopation was a region outside the City walls, opposite the Blachernai, with a palace :

and a garden complex. It was favoured by several emperors, including Basil. j

6 ‘stirrup’: the translated Greek word is aic&Xa. This could be either a stirrup in the j

modern sense or a contraption such as a ladder, from which a horse could be mounted. j

7 ‘Chaldea’ (or ‘Chaldia’): (at this time) a Byzantine thema in north-eastern Anatolia. I

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The apelates, the Persian, 1 became infested with worms and thus lost his
life. Constantine Toxaras died by the sword in the Kibyrrhaiotai. Finally,
Marianos, the emperor’s brother, broke his leg when falling from his
horse, and, developing gangrene, died infested with worms. 3 On
Christmas Day, the emperor went forth in the procession to the Great
Church, and had his son, Stephen, baptised. 2 He came in a chariot drawn
by white horses, and he sat with the augusta, and the praipositos, Baanes,
was with them and held the child all the way to the palace, while the
emperor was distributing largesse in the street. 4 There was a very great
earthquake at St Polyeuktos, and the earth trembled for forty days and
forty nights. 3 On this occasion, the globe of the statue at the Forum 4 also
fell down, as well as the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, the one
at what is known as the Sigma, and all those who were chanting there at
the time were killed. Leo the philosopher, 5 who happened to be there, told
the chanters and all the people present to get out of the church, but they
did not obey him, and they all perished. The philosopher himself stood by
a pillar under a beam and was saved with two other people; along with
five others, who remained under the ambo, these were the only ones to be
saved. 5 When the emperor came to the church in order to receive Holy
Communion, Photios, the patriarch, called him a robber, a murderer and
unworthy of divine communion. This infuriated the emperor, who sent a
messenger to Rome and had an edict [from the pope] brought by Roman
bishops, and he had Photios ousted from the throne, and made the blessed
Ignatios patriarch for the second time. 6 6 The emperor Alexander was
born from Eudokia, daughter of Inger. 7 He was a legitimate child of
Basil’s. 8 7 The emperor went to war against the Hagarenes of Tibrike, and

1 There is a slight textual problem here, and the transmitted text reads as 'apelates o/the
Persian’ (Greek taktais too IKpooo). Cf., however, above. Chapter 131, § 50.

2 Stephen was born in November 867 and was baptised on Christmas Day of the same
year.

3 This earthquake took place 9 January 869.

4 I.e. the statue of Constantine the Great.

5 Cf. Chapter 130, § 34-35, where the same Leo becomes famous, and Chapter 131, § 34,
where he warns Caesar Bardas to beware of Basil.

6 Photios was forced to abdicate 23 September 867, and Ignatios was made patriarch
23 November of the same year.

7 Alexander was born perhaps 23 November 870.

8 Cf. Chapter 131, § 45, where it is said explicitly that Leo was the son of Michael III.

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197

he joined battle but was defeated. 1 He often joined battle with the
Hagarenes, and he lost many Roman lives. When the emperor was fleeing
and was almost captured by the Hagarenes, he was saved by Theophylaktos
Abastaktos, the father of Romanos who later became emperor. After this,
the emperor searched for his saviour, and he found him and recognised
him (there were many people who told the emperor: ‘I am the one who
saved you’). But Theophylaktos refused to accept the reward offered him
but asked for a place in the succession, which he also received. 2 On
returning to the City, the emperor sent Christopher, his son-in-law, to
Tibrike, and he achieved a very great victory, destroying the city and
razing it to the ground. 8 Ignatios, the patriarch, had a most beautiful
church built in the emporium of Sator; 3 it was named after the Archistratege,
the Rising One. The same patriarch also had a male monastery built, in
which his body is resting. 9 Thekla, the sister of the emperor, 4 sent a
certain member of her household called Metrios to the emperor [Basil] in
order to deliver a message, and the emperor asked him: ‘Who has your
lady? 5 He said: ‘Neatokometes.’ The emperor at once sent for
Neatokometes, and had him beaten and tonsured and clad in monastic
garb. Likewise, he sent his protovesliarios Prokopios and had Thekla
beaten. Prokopios also took all Thekla’s money and brought it to the
emperor. Later, the emperor made Neatokometes oikonomos in the Great
Church. 10 The same emperor also had all the Jews of his realm baptised,
and all those in high positions took part in receiving them, 6 and the
emperor treated the Jews kipdly and gave them much support and many
gifts. 11 The afore-mentioned Nicholas, the one called Androsalites, who
was also prosmonarios of St Diomedes, and to whom, as has been said

1 This is the fortress Tephrike in north-eastern Cappadocia. Having become a Paulician
stronghold ca. 850, it was captured and ultimately destroyed by the Byzantines in the 870s,
although there is some dispute as to the exact date of this (perhaps 878, see Sevdenko 201l’
Chapter 50.1-2).

2 The claim that Theophylaktos, father of emperor Romanos I (for Romanos see Chapter
135, §21ff., and Chapters 136-37), had saved Basil and so provided a justification for the
aspirations of the Lekapenoi goes well with the supposition that this part of the work contains
Lekapenian propaganda.

3 This should refer to the Satyros complex, already mentioned above, Chapter 126, § 4
(cf. Ps.-Sym 690.14-16 and Theophanes Cont. 1, § 10).

4 In fact, she was the sister of the former emperor, Michael III.

5 I.e. approximately: ‘Who is your lady’s man?’

6 I.e. they acted as godfathers at the baptism.

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'“ " 7stCo^TuX^Z many house, .he
metochion of St Constant . Mace in order to build the Nea

emperor started to excavate near emperor that Syracuse was being

ntHpsia 6 Then it was announced to the emperor i y
Elddesia. mi™ However, since the navy personnel were

occupied i^the construction and excavatiM^ f the Nea!Ekklesra, there

had him tonsured and mad^monLIn ^ diedj he was laid t0

nuns. 14 I he emperor imum y „ and mosaic tesserae

the Nea Ekklesia, but he also took pieces of mar

ant/piHacs from many C ' 1UTC !’^^ 4 the form'of'a Wsho^u^iioh stood in

Ssaefe-

l ThS‘i"° p f'L to «.«». P.w .■ •'« '■««“ “ of ““

5 I.e. a monastic dependency.

6 I.e. the‘New Church.’ most Drestigious building projects

7 The works on the Nea Ekklesia in the ci y Svrac use^fell to the Arabs 20-21 May

of Basil’s reign, may have started in the autumn of 877. Syracuse

878. , ..

; —■* »v" >• ,he u u “ ci “

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

199

antidote, the emperor barely escaped alive, and everyone wondered at this.
Also, he had the statue of Solomon in the largest basilica 1 taken down, and
ordered that it should be given an inscription with his name and be placed
in the undercroft 2 of the Nea Ekklesia, as if he were offering himself in
dedication for this building project and to God. 15 Once more, the emperor
went to war, against Melitene, and after having taken many prisoners and
fought many battles he returned home. 3 16 St Ignatios the patriarch dies
and, in his place, the emperor once again, for a second time, puts Photios
on the patriarchal throne. 4 When later Photios died in exile, his body was
laid to rest in the Eremia monastery in Merdosagari; this was earlier a
public 5 church, but it had been made into a monastery for nuns by Photios
himself. 6 17 Once again the emperor goes to war, this time against
Germanikeia in Syria, and having pillaged this city and taken prisoners he
returned home. 7 18 Constantine, the son of the emperor Michael by
Eudokia, but according to rumour the son of Basil, dies. 8 Basil, who had
loved him dearly, was deeply afflicted, and Constantine’s body was put to
rest in the imperial mausoleum. 19 On the first of May the church, which
the emperor had built and embellished elaborately, is inaugurated and
consecrated by the patriarch Photios. And the emperor wore a loros at the
inauguration and bestowed much money on the church and named it the
Nea. 9 20 Prokopios the protovestiarios was sent out by the emperor with
all the Western themata. 10 At this time Eupraxios was stratelates in Sicily,

1 Or possibly: ‘very big statue of Solomon in the basilica.’ The MS tradition gives
different readings and is not reliable.

2 Or: ‘foundations.’

3 This expedition is variously dated: perhaps 879 or 873.

4 Ignatios died 23 October 877. Photios was reinstalled directly after this, whereas the
approbation by the pope and the synod came in the autumn of 879.

5 Ka0oXucr|.

6 Photios died sometime after 893. This is in the Mardosangaris district of
Constantinople.

7 The expedition against Germanikeia took place in 879.

8 Constantine died 3 September 879. The text of this paragraph is at odds with § 21
below, where Basil’s paternity is taken for granted. Cf. also Chapter 131, §45, where it
is claimed that Michael III, not Basil, was the father of Leo VI. The rationale for casting
doubt upon the paternity in cases such as these seems (apart from the general promiscuous
behaviour of Michael, Basil and their wives and girl-friends) to be signs of affection or hatred
too obvious to conceal. Thus, as seen here, Basil’s love of Constantine is explained and,
Chapter 131, § 45, Basil's hatred of Leo.

9 The inauguration of the Nea Ekklesia took place 1 May 880.

10 The events recorded in this paragraph took place in 882 or 880.

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Mousilikes in Cephalonia, Rabdouchos in Dyrrachion and Oiniates and
Apostoupes in the Peloponnese. Having accomplished many feats and
valiant deeds, it at last came to open war and, when all his men were
betrayed by Apostoupes, Prokopios was killed. 21 Leo Salibaras introduces
the monk Theodore, archbishop of Euchaita, to the patriarch Photios and
tells him that Theodore is a pious man and able to perform miracles and
see into the future. Photios, in his turn, introduces him to Basil, the
emperor, and the emperor came to like him (for the man agreed with his
inclinations) and held him in high esteem. When the emperor was
depressed on the death of his son 1 Constantine, for he had loved him
dearly, the Santabarene 2 deceived him and promised to show him his son
alive, which he did. For, when the emperor was passing through a thicket,
he was confronted by an apparition on horseback, dressed in gold and in
the shape of Constantine. On seeing this with his own eyes, the emperor
embraced it and kissed it and, when it disappeared, he believed he had
seen Constantine and did not realise that he had been deceived. Therefore,
he also founded a monastery there and named it St Constantine’s. By this
and very many other similar devices, the Santabarene, who was very well
versed in magic of the type practised by Apollonios, 3 made the emperor
acquire great faith in him. 22 The emperor brought the daughter of
Martinakios as wife to the emperor Leo. 4 He also crowned her, 3 celebrating
the marriage in the Magnaura and the Hall of the Nineteen Couches. 6
23 The Santabarene denounced Leo the emperor to his father and said: ‘He
carries a dagger around and wishes to kill you.’ But it was the Santabarene
himself who by his treacherous advice had made Leo procure himself this
dagger and wear it in his leggings; he had said to him: ‘Your father often
asks for a knife for some need or other; why don’t you keep one ready for
him?’ 7 Having procured this dagger, Leo the emperor was denounced by
the Santabarene and, having been found out to actually be carrying a

1 Cf. to this above, § 18 with note.

2 This is the monk Theodore mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph. He is called
'the Santabarene’ because he stemmed from Santabaris, a place in Asia Minor that cannot be
located with certainty (perhaps Bardakft by Eskijehir).

3 Apollonios of Tyana, also mentioned above. Chapter 60, § 4.

4 The bride’s name was Theophano.

5 With the wedding crown, but perhaps also as empress.

6 This was perhaps in September 882.

7 This is a strange and highly improbable episode as far as human psychology is

concerned.

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201

dagger in his leggings, he was not believed although he protested his
innocence eagerly. As a consequence of this, Niketas Helladikos, 1 his
protovestiarios (the man who was made papias during the time of emperor
Romanos 2 ), was flogged as well as others with him and, after being
punished terribly, they were sent into exile. 24 The emperor imprisoned
Leo in the Pearl Hall and intended to have him blinded. This would have
happened had not Photios, the patriarch, together with Stylianos Zaoutzes,
who was mikros hetaireiarches 3 at the time, made the emperor change his
mind by appealing to him constantly. 4 Leo spent three months 5 away from
the public eye, wailing and lamenting and writing countless letters with
pleas to the emperor. Now, the emperor had great faith in St Elijah, and
Leo the emperor was reconciled to him on St Elijah’s day. When the
procession took place and the people saw Leo in it, they shouted: ‘Glory to
you, God!’ But the emperor (Basil) turned to them and said in his own
defence: ‘Do you praise God for my son? You will have a lot of troubles to
endure and hard days to go through because of him!’ 25 Andreas, the
domestikos of the scholai, was accused by the Santabarene in front of the
emperor for being a supporter of Leo. And therefore he was removed from
his office and, in his place, Stoupiotes was made domestikos . 6 Stoupiotes
then went with many people to Tarsos but was defeated there and lost all
his men. 7 And thus, Andreas is made domestikos again by the emperor.
26 A plot was hatched against the emperor by John Krokoas, who was a
domestikos of the hikanatoi , 8 and it was supported by the prisoner in the
Blachernai. 9 Many of the senators and other people in leading positions (in
fact, as many as sixty-six 10 people) were found to be on his side. There was
Michael the hetaireiarches, and Katoudares, and Myxares, and
Baboutzikos, and others. When this plot had been revealed to the emperor

1 I.e. from the province of Hellas.

2 I.e. emperor Romanos I, see below.

3 The title of mikros hetaireiarches (‘lesser hetairiarch’) is not attested elsewhere, and
the meaning is uncertain. It may be that there was a Lesser Hetaireia (in addition to the
Great and the Middle Hetaireiai that we know of). There is also the possibility that Stylianos
was heading the barbarian regiment of the Third Hetaireia.

4 Photios had been Leo’s private teacher.

5 According to some MSS: three years.

6 Known as Kesta Stoupiotes (or Styppiotes).

7 This is the battle of Chrysoboullos at Tarsos 14 September 883.

8 The leader of the hikanatoi, one of the tagmata.

9 Perhaps Leo.

10 This is a surprisingly precise number.

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by Krokoas’ protovestiarios, and everyone had been caught, the emperor
went out to the hippodrome and sat there and examined everything
concerning them; he had them flogged, and what hair they had left' cut off
and burnt. After this, the emperor went out in the procession for the
Annunciation, 2 which was the day when they had planned to carry out
their coup. They walked behind him naked and in fetters to the Forum, as
he had ordered. He then had everyone’s belongings confiscated and the
people sent into exile. 27 The emperor went out to hunt, and a huge deer
appeared unexpectedly and, when the emperor pursued it, it turned upon
the emperor and seized him by his belt and dragged him from the horse
with its horns. The first to arrive on the spot drew his sword and cut off the
emperor’s belt, and so saved him. After his return the emperor ordered that
the man who had cut off his belt should have his head cut off for having
drawn his sword against the emperor. The man protested wildly and said:
‘I did this for your sake.’ But to no avail. Basil dies having contracted an
infection from being mangled by the deer. 3 He leaves Leo as emperor
together with Alexander. 4

133 Leo, Son of Basil

Leo, son of Basil, reigned for twenty-five years and eight months. 5 His
brother Stephen, who was a cleric and a synkellos, lived together with
Photios the patriarch and was fostered and educated by him. 6 2 After he
became emperor, Leo sent the stratelates Andreas with many candles and
with clerics and senators to Chrysopolis. And they took Michael from the
tomb and put him in a coffin of cypress wood and put this on a stretcher

1 In other words, an old men’s plot.

2 This was 25 March, probably in the year of 886.

3 Basil died 29 August 886.

4 The word here used (instead of basileus) for emperor, autokrator, is unusual. If ‘senior
emperor’ is meant, it might be implied that Alexander was also emperor at the time (for the
question of his status see below, Chapter 133, § 63). If, however, autokrator means no more
than basileus (and Alexander was an emperor at the time), the sentence appears awkward.

5 Leo VI reigned 29(30) August 886-11 May 912. Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley
2010, pp. 165-187), and Ps.-Symeon 700.6-715.18.

6 Since in the first paragraph of each chapter dynastic matters are usually set out and
persons with a direct claim to the throne are mentioned, one may wonder why Stephen
is mentioned here and not Alexander (on the possibility that Alexander had no status as
emperor at this time see above. Chapter 132, § 27, and below, Chapter 133, §§ 47 and 63).

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203

and covered it in a way befitting royalty, and they honoured him with
hymns and many tokens of respect (Michael’s siblings also followed them
there), and they took him to the Church of the Holy Apostles and put him
in a sarcophagus. 1 3 After this, the emperor despatched Andreas,
domestikos of the scholai, together with John Hagiopolites, a most learned
man and a former Iogothetes tou dromou, and they ascended the ambo of
the church and read accusations against the patriarch Photios and forced
him from the throne and confined him to the monastery of Armonianai,
the one called Bordon’s. 2 And the emperor promoted Stylianos Zaoutzes
to the offices of magistros and Iogothetes tou dromou. And he brought the
synkellos Stephen, who was also his brother, to the patriarchate, and
before Christmas Stephen is made patriarch by the protothronos 3
Theophanes and the rest of the bishops, and he remained patriarch for six
years and five months; on dying he is buried in the monastery at Sykai. 4

4 During Leo’s reign the fortress called Hypsele was betrayed and captured
by the Hagarenes, and all the people who lived there were made prisoners. 5

5 There was also a great fire close to Sophi(an)ai, 6 and the Church of the
Holy Apostle Thomas also burnt down, which the same Leo had renovated
in a lavish manner. 6 The emperor sent a messenger to Euchaita and
brought Theodore of Santabaris to the City. For Andreas the domestikos
and Stephen the magistros, of Kalomaria, who had been subject to much
slander by the Santabarene in the days of Basil, suggested to the emperor
(they had made up a story to this effect) that Photios the patriarch and
Theodore of Santabaris .were planning to make one of Photios’ men
emperor. The emperor ordered that Photios the patriarch and Theodore of
Santabaris should be brought to the palace of Pegai, and he demanded that
they should be kept under surveillance separately. 7 Stephen the magistros
and Andreas the domestikos and Krateros and Gouber, who were patrikioi,

1 This episode describes Leo’s attempt to reach an understanding with the family of
Michael III. It may be one of the reasons why Leo was thought by some to be Michael’s
natural son. It is one of several examples of actions taken by Leo in stark contrast to the
policy followed by Basil I.

2 Or: ‘Gordon’s’ or ‘Kordon’s,’ an otherwise unknown institution.

3 This title is used in different contexts to denote the person highest in rank among
bishops. In this case it is the bishop of Caesarea.

4 This was at Galata/Pera, over the Golden Horn from Constantinople proper.

5 This was in 887. The fortress was close to Sebasteia (Sivas) in north-eastern
Cappadocia.

6 This is possibly the same palace as that mentioned in Chapter 105, § 3, or a part of the
city, or another palace (named Sophiai), or a bath.

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and John Hagiopolites, were sent by the emperor to investigate the
accusations against them. And they brought in the patriarch and placed
him on a throne, showing him signs of respect, and they sat down
themselves, and Andreas the domestikos said to the patriarch: ‘My Lord,
do you know father Theodore?’ He answered: ‘I do not know any father
Theodore.’ Andreas said: ‘Don’t you know father Theodore of Santabaris?’
The patriarch answered: ‘I know the monk Theodore, who is the archbishop
of Euchaita.’ 8 At this stage they brought the Santabarene in to them, and
Andreas the domestikos says to him: ‘The emperor says to you: “Where
are the belongings of my empire?”’ He said: ‘Where the emperor of the
day had them placed—there they are. But, if the emperor wants them
back, he can take them.’ Then Andreas said to him: ‘Tell me: who did you
plan to make emperor when you cooked up that story and suggested to my
father that he should have me blinded—one of the patriarch’s men or one
of your own?’ He answered: ‘I have no idea what you are talking about
accusing me like this.’ At this point Stephen the magistros says to him:
‘And how come that you asked the emperor: “Shall I question the patriarch
on this matter?”’ 9 At this the Santabarene fell at the patriarch’s feet and
said: ‘By God I swear to you, my Lord: have me deposed first; then, when
I am stripped of the priesthood, they may punish me as a simple criminal.
For I did not say anything like this to the emperor.’ And the patriarch said
in front of everyone: ‘By the salvation of my soul, Lord Theodore, you are
archbishop in this world as well as in the world to come.’ At this Andreas
was angered and said: ‘So you did not, father, make me ask the emperor
on your account: “Shall I question the patriarch on this?”’ But he denied
any knowledge of the matter. 10 On their return they informed the emperor
about their conversation. The emperor was overcome with anger and
uncontrollable wrath since he had not found any valid accusation against
the patriarch. He sent people and had the Santabarene severely flogged
and exiled to Athens. He then sent people after him and had him blinded
and exiled to the East. Many years later, however, the emperor acted on a
petition and had him returned to the City and ordered that he should
receive a pension from the Nea Ekklesia. The Santabarene died during the
joint reign of Constantine and Zoe, Constantine’s mother. 1 11 During
Leo’s reign it also happened that Aiulf, who was exarchos and doux of
Lombardy and the son-in-law of the king of France, rebelled against
the emperor and enslaved the whole region and subjected it to his own

1 I.e. somewhere in the period 914-919.

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205

regime. 1 On learning this, the emperor sent Constantine the epi tes trapezes
with all the Western themata to defeat Aiulf. And when battle was joined,
Constantine’s men were defeated and slaughtered, and he himself barely
escaped alive. 12 There was a solar eclipse, so that there was night at the
sixth hour and stars became visible. 2 There were also thunder and strong
winds and lightning, and seven people were burned to death on the flight of
steps to the Forum. And the Hagarenes besieged the fortress of Samos, and
Paspalas, the strategos in command, was taken prisoner. 13 Leo the
emperor appointed Zaoutzes basileopator? He had already fallen in love
with Zaoutzes’ daughter Zoe, whose husband, Theodore Gouzouniates,
had died by poison of some kind. 14 When Stephen the patriarch left this
world, Anthony, known as Kauleas, was made patriarch in his stead. 4
15 There was also a message from the strategos of Macedonia, to the effect
that the leader of Bulgaria, Symeon, is planning to go to war against
Romania. 5 The reason why Symeon was angry was the following. Zaoutzes
the basileopator had as his slave a eunuch by the name of Mousikos. This
Mousikos was befriended with Staurakios and Kosmas, two traders from
the province of Hellas who were very greedy. With a view to their own
sordid gain and by the mediation and influence of Mousikos, these men had
removed the Bulgarian market from the City to Thessalonica, and they
treated the Bulgarians badly as far as their trading interests were concerned.
The Bulgarians reported this to Symeon, and he informed the emperor Leo
about it. But the emperor, who was hindered by the basileopator who liked
Mousikos, treated all of this as of no consequence. 16 At this the Bulgarian
loses his temper and goes to war against Romania, and on learning this, the
emperor sends Krinites as stratelates in command of a heavily armed
military force against the Bulgarians; this force included many leaders

1 This is a reference to Aiulf II (Greek Aylcov), prince of Benevento 884-891, who tried
to counteract the Byzantine ambitions in Calabria, southern Italy, in the 880s by capturing
Bari.

2 The solar eclipse took place 8 August 891. It may be that all occurrences listed between
the solar eclipse and the death of the patriarch Stephen (§ 14) occurred in the time between
these exactly datable occurrences (so Jenkins 1965: see Introduction); however, it is also
possible that a number of catastrophes are bunched together, although they in reality were
further apart in time.

3 It has been suggested that this was a new title, invented for the occasion, in which case
its use above (Chapter 95, § 4) is an anachronism.

4 Stephen died 17/18 May 893, and Anthony Kauleas was made patriarch in August of
the same year.

5 These wars with Bulgaria (§§ 15-21) can be dated to around 894-896.

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from the City who were negatively inclined against Symeon. 1 When battle
is joined in Macedonia, the Romans are routed, and Krinites and the
Armenian Kourtikes and all the rest are killed. But some of the Chazars,
who were Leo’s followers, were apprehended, and their noses were slit so
as to bring shame on the Romans, and they were sent back to the City by
Symeon. 17 On seeing these, the emperor was infuriated and he sent
Niketas, also known as Skleros, 2 with dromones into the river Danube to
give gifts to the Turks 3 and to incite them to war against Symeon. And
Niketas went there and met with the Turkish leaders, Arpades and
Kousanes, and they agreed to go to war, and Niketas received hostages and
returned to the emperor. And again the emperor sent Eustathios the
patrikios and droungarios of the fleet by sea, and by land he sent Nikephoros
Phokas the patrikios, who was also a domestikos, with the themata, and
they entered Bulgaria. 18 After this, the emperor embraced a peaceful
solution and he also sent Konstantinakes the quaestor to Symeon in order
to discuss the peace. However, on seeing the movement against him on land
and sea Symeon locks the quaestor up in a fortress thinking that he has
come with foul intentions. At this time (Symeon was occupied with the
expedition of Phokas), the Turks passed through Bulgaria, and they
enslaved the entire country. On learning this, Symeon moves against the
Turks who make a counter-move and join battle with the Bulgarians, and
Symeon is routed and barely gets himself safely to Distra. 4 19 The Turks
asked the emperor to send representatives and buy the prisoners’ freedom
from the Bulgarians. This the emperor did, and he sent citizens who paid
for their freedom. But Symeon sued for peace through Eustathios the
droungarios, and the emperor yielded to this and sent Leo Choirosphaktes
to negotiate the peace while Nikephoros together with the droungarios
Eustathios accepted the task of returning home with the men. However,
Symeon did not pay Leo any attention but kept him safely under arrest.
Thereupon, Symeon went on an expedition against those Turks, who did
not have any protection from the Romans but were left without attention,

1 ‘this ... Symeon’: this is a somewhat free translation of Greek which is not necessarily
corrupt but somewhat loose in its structure.

2 I.e. ‘the hard one’: this is the name of a well-known family in Byzantine politics and
administration. Known since the early ninth c., it reached its highest prominence through
Bardas Skleros (died 991).

3 I.e. Magyars.

4 Or: ‘Dristra,’ a fortress on the Danube, also known as Dorostolon (present-day Silistra

in north-eastern Bulgaria).

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207

and he slaughtered them all and became even prouder and more boastful
than before. 20 On his return he encountered Leo in Moundraga 1 and he
said to him: ‘I will not make peace if I do not receive all my prisoners back.’
The emperor then decided to return the prisoners, and Theodore the
Bulgarian, who was an intimate of Symeon’s, came with Leo, and they
were handed over to him. On the death of Nikephoros Phokas, Symeon
looked for a reason to dissolve the peace, and he went out against the
Romans with a view to taking prisoners once more. 21 Leo the emperor
appoints Leo Katakalon to the office of domestikos of the scholai (Leo had
his house in Rabdos 2 ) and, together with him, he sends Theodotos, the
patrikios and protovestiarios, on an expedition. And they transfer 3 all the
themata and the tagmata, and a battle was fought at Boulgarofygon and the
Romans were routed en masse and everyone perished, including the
protovestiarios Theodotos (on whose account the emperor was more than
usually distressed). 4 During 5 Leo’s reign, the soldiers of the fortress at
Cherson murdered their strategos Symeon, son of Jonas, and the fortress
Koron in Cappadocia was taken by the Hagarenes. 6 22 The emperor made
a procession to the Damianos monastery 7 at which Zaoutzes the paradyn-
asteuon accompanied the emperor, as did also Zaoutzes’ daughter Zoe.
Theophano, however, who was the emperor’s wife, was not present there
but remained in prayer in the Church of the Holy Soros in Blachernai. And
when the emperor decided to remain there overnight, the relatives of
Zaoutzes, including his son Tzantzes and the rest of them, decided to kill
the emperor during the night. 8 However, Zoe, who was sleeping at the
emperor’s side, heard a noise and looked out through a window and asked
for quiet. But when she realised the seriousness of what was happening, she
woke the emperor who immediately embarked on a boat and crossed to
Pegai, 9 leaving Zaoutzes and everyone else behind. In the morning the

1 Site of yet another Bulgarian fortress.

2 In the Ninth Region of Constantinople, on the Marmara Sea (present-day Etyemez).

3 I.e. to Europe from the Asian side of the empire.

4 The battle at Boulgarofygon (or Boulgarogefyron) was fought in 896. This is at the site
of present-day Babaeski in Thrace (north-western Turkey).

5 There is no connection between this and the previous account of the wars against the
Bulgarians (a new paragraph would therefore have been called for in my edition).

6 Koron was captured 5 August 897.

7 In Constantinople.

8 The attempt at Leo’s life described in this paragraph cannot be dated with any
exactitude.

9 A city on the southern shore of the Marmara Sea.

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emperor returned quickly to the palace and removed John the droungarios
of the vigla and appointed Pardos, son of Nicholas the hetaireiarches, in his
stead. For this Nicholas, who had become a personal friend of the emperor,
had revealed to him all the machinations of Zaoutzes. And from this time
the emperor did not enter Zaoutzes’ cell until the reconciliation between
them brought about by the magistros Leo Theodotakes. 1 23 The augusta
Theophano dies having reigned for twelve years. 2 Just a few days later God
showed her as a wonderworker; this happened because of her generous and
forgiving character and because she was constantly showing her love for
God and the holy churches by good deeds and prayers. Leo the emperor
crowns Zoe, the daughter of Zaoutzes, and, together with her, he is blessed
by a cleric, nick-named Sinapes, who belonged to the palace. 3 The cleric
who blessed them was ousted from office, and Zoe reigned for one year and
eight months. When this same Zoe had died they found a sarcophagus in
which to lay her body to rest, and on the inside of this sarcophagus there
was the following inscription: ‘The wretched daughter of Babylon.’
24 Mousikos and Staurakios were accused in front of the emperor Leo of
taking gifts from strategoi and civil servants and of communicating with
the basileopator. And it happened once that Staurakios entered the palace
with a letter to Zaoutzes from one of the strategoi, and the emperor, who
was standing at the heliakon , 4 saw him and, on the pretext of asking him
about the strategoi, went up behind him and took him by the arm and led
him out. He then brought him to a window and took the letter from him and
threw it away, and he handed him over to the first people he saw, with the
instructions that they should remove him from the palace; he also ordered
that he should be tonsured. On learning this, Mousikos fell into deep
despair. The emperor entered the place where Mousikos was standing close
to Zaoutzes and he took him by the neck and pushed him out and handed
him over to Christopher the koitonites to take him to the Stoudios and make

1 Leo seems to have had an indulgent attitude towards Zaoutzes. One reason could be
that he was afraid of him, but perhaps it was because Zaoutzes' daughter Zoe was the love of
Leo’s life.

2 Theophano almost certainly died 10 November, but it is uncertain in which year:
suggestions range from 893 to 897. See also above. Chapter 132, § 22.

3 The marriage between Leo and Zoe probably took place in May or July of the year 898.
Zoe died somewhere between December 899 and March 900.

4 This could also be understood as a proper name. It was either an open place flooded

with sunlight, such as a sun balcony, or a sundial (see also Chapter 135, § 26, where a
heliakon is located at Boukoleon).

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209

him a monk. 25 A short time later, Zaoutzes dies in the palace, and they
carried him out through the Boukoleon 1 and brought him to the Kauleas
monastery 2 and buried him there. After 3 the death of Zaoutzes, Basil
Epiktes, the son ofNicholas the hetaireiarches, made friends with Samonas
the koubikoularios, who was a Hagarene by descent. This he did because
he coveted the imperial throne. He assured Samonas: ‘Since our saintly
Zoe is dead the emperor is bound to take another wife and he will make
away with all of us. But give me a written guarantee and I will confide all
my plans to you.’ And Samonas gave him a written guarantee, and Basil
confided everything to him. 26 However, Samonas went in to the emperor
and said to him: ‘My Lord, I am going to say something to you in private
that may be my death; however, it will kill you if I do not tell you.’ He then
told the emperor all about Basil’s plot. The emperor was not convinced by
what Samonas said, so he asked: ‘It is not that someone suggested to you to
say this and that you have accepted bribes to do so?’ But Samonas said:
‘Send the people you want, whom you trust, my Lord, and let them hide in
my cell, and let them write down whatever they hear from Basil and me.’
27 At once the emperor sends the protovestiarios Christopher together
with Kalokyros the koitonites, and they came up and hid in Samonas’ cell.
Thus Basil took the bait, and he received an oath from Samonas at his place
of prayer, and he told him everything about the plot and about those who
had participated in it. While they were having breakfast, Christopher and
Kalokyris went down and read everything to the emperor as they had
written it down. The emperor at once called for Basil and gave him 24,000
miliaresia, said to be for the soul of his holy Zoe, as if she had decided this,
and he sent him to Macedonia. In this way he removed Basil from the City.
The rest of those who had taken part in his plan or had known about it, he
handled as follows: Pardos the droungarios of the vigla he sends to
Stypiotes, purportedly to fetch him to the City; Stypiotes, however, had
been warned in advance by an imperial letter that he should apprehend
Pardos. The emperor made a pretext of going away to St Lazaros, in the
descent to the polo-ground, 4 to dine, and he placed John Garidas together
with the rest of the hetaireia in the emperor’s private quarters, 5 and when

1 Which had its own harbour.

2 Zaoutzes died in 899. The monastery, situated in the City, belonged to the patriarch
Anthony Kauleas, who had enjoyed Zaoutzes’ patronage.

3 The attempted coup by Basil Epiktes cannot be dated more exactly than ca. 900.

4 T^uyKavioxtjpiov.

5 KouPouKleiov.

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the emperor was on his way down, John and his men seized Nicholas the
hetaireiarches and removed him from the City. He 1 then brought Basil
from Macedonia and subjected him to investigations and had him beaten
and his hair burnt and paraded him in the Mese and exiled him to Athens,
where he died miserably. Further, as far as the rest is concerned, that is,
Nicholas the hetaireiarches , Stylianos, John, and all the relatives of
Zaoutzes—some he had tonsured and some exiled, and he confiscated the
possessions of all of them. Thus the whole clan of Zaoutzes was wiped out
because of Samonas. 28 The emperor called together all the magistroi and
the men in high positions, and he read out to them what Samonas had
reported. They commended Samonas very highly for taking care of the
emperor’s life, and they said that Samonas was worthy of the greatest
honour. And the emperor honoured Samonas with the office of protospa-
tharios, and befriended 2 him. 29 The patriarch Anthony died and in his
stead Nicholas, the emperor’s mystikos , 3 was made patriarch. 4 30 Damianos
the Hagarene captured the Demetrias fortress in the thema of Hellas. 5
31 The 6 emperor Leo crowns Anna, the daughter of the Zoe who was the
daughter of Zaoutzes, for he was not able to perform the prescribed
ceremonial banquets without the presence of an augusta. 32 The emperor
brought a most beautiful girl from the Opsikion thema, called Eudokia, and
he crowned her and proclaimed her empress and married her. 7 He had a
male child by her at whose birth both she and the child died. 33 The emperor
Leo bought buildings close to the Church of the Holy Apostles and he had
a most beautiful church built there in the name of his former wife, St
Theophano. He also had a church built in the place known as Topoi, 8 which
he named after St Lazaros and made into a monastery for male eunuchs. He
then conveyed the bodies of St Lazaros and Mary Magdalene and deposited

1 In this and the following sentence, the acting subject is presumably the emperor.

2 ‘befriended’ (jtpoccpKEtdxJcruo): or, possibly, ‘made him a member of the hetaireia.’

3 This was an assistant to the emperor with secretarial duties, in particular with regard
to juridical matters. In the case of Nicholas, it can be seen as a kind of surname.

4 Anthony II Kauleas died 12 February 901 and Nicholas I Mystikos was made patriarch
on 1 March.

5 Demetrias is close to Volos in Thessaly. There is some dispute as to the date of its
capture, with guesses ranging from 897 to 902.

6 The crowning of Anna cannot be independently dated but must have taken place while
Leo was a bachelor, i.e. between the death of Zoe and his remarriage with Eudokia Baiane
(see § 32).

7 This was perhaps in the summer of 900. Eudokia Baiane died 12 April 901.

8 This, too, is in the City.

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211

them there, and also conducted the inauguration of the church. 34 While
the navy was occupied with the construction of these churches, the Africans
seized Taormina in Sicily. 1 This happened through the negligence, or
rather, the treacherous behaviour, of Eustathios, the droungarios of the
fleet, and Karamalos was also there, and Michael Charaktes, 2 and there
was a great loss of Roman lives. When they returned to the City, they were
questioned by the emperor and the patriarch, and they were condemned to
death for treason by Michael Charaktes. But the patriarch pleaded with the
emperor, and the death penalty was lifted and they were only flogged and
had their belongings confiscated and were tonsured, Karamalos at
Pikridion, and Eustathios in the Stoudios monastery. 35 The island of
Lemnos was also occupied by the Hagarenes, who took many prisoners. 3
36 In the procession in the middle of Pentecost 4 the emperor Leo went to St
Mokios, and when he entered the church and approached the solea, someone
stepped out from under the ambo and struck him on the head with a thick
and powerful stick, and if the momentum of the stick had not been
diminished by a candle-stand, which came in its way, the emperor would
have been killed then and there. 5 At this there was a panic and, while a lot
of blood was streaming from the emperor’s head, officials fled, and many
perished in this. 37 During all this, the emperor’s brother Alexander had
claimed to be ill, and he had not come down to the church, and because of
this he came under suspicion of being behind the attack himself. Nor was
Samonas there; he had gone to bring Zoe to the palace to be with the
emperor. The man who had struck the emperor was apprehended and
interrogated and was for many days subjected to many kinds of torture and
punishment, but since he did not name anyone responsible, they finally just
had his hands and feet cut off and burnt him at the Sphendone in the
hippodrome. From this date this procession was cancelled. 38 However,
some time later Markos, the most wise oikonomos of the same church,
came up to the palace. It was he who had completed the tetraodion 6 of the
Great Sabbath, originally written by lord Kosmas, and dining at the
emperor’s table he entreated the emperor not to cut out the feast. When the

1 Muslims from northern Africa captured Taormina 1 August 902.

2 The Greek text is a little problematic. From the following it is clear that Karamalos but
not Michael Charaktes had a responsibility for things going wrong.

3 The capture of Lemnos took place in 902.

4 I.e. in the middle of the fifty-day period between Easter and Pentecost.

5 This may have been 11 May 903 (see also below, § 38).

6 A hymn consisting of four parts.

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emperor seemed unwilling to talk about the matter, Markos said: ‘It was
written already by the prophet David that you should suffer this, my Lord.
For he prophesied the following: “Such evil the fiend perpetrated against
your sacred person. And those who hate you were elated in the middle of
your feast.” 1 And you, my Lord, are bound to reign for another ten years
after this.’ This indeed happened. 2 For, on the same day on which he
received the blow, he also dies. 39 Zoe was the fourth wife of the emperor
and she lived with the emperor in the palace without having been crowned. 3
40 When the emperor was occupied by a procession at the emporium of
Boutios (this was in order to inaugurate the monastery of his protoves-
tiarios Christopher), there came a message that the navy of the Hagarenes
with the Tripolitan 4 in charge was coming up against Constantinople.
Therefore, the emperor sends Eustathios, the droungarios of the fleet,
with all the navy and the strategoi against the Tripolitan but, since the
Romans were not able to match the Hagarenes, they returned having
achieved nothing. Instead, the Tripolitan came in behind them and
proceeded inside of Abydos as far as Paraion. 5 On learning this, the
emperor became very depressed and worried and he sends Himerios the
protasekretis as head of a fleet against the Tripolitan. This fleet the
Hagarenes did not dare at all to approach and, by the will of God, Leo of
Tripoli had to turn away and so went to Thessalonica, which he besieged
and captured together with its strategos, Leo Chatzilakios; and he killed
many and took many prisoners. 41 A certain Rhodophylles, a koubikou-
larios, had been sent to Sicily on some duty and was carrying with him
100 litrai in gold. Happening to fall ill during the journey, he entered
Thessalonica in order to restore himself by bathing; and he was captured
by Leo. When Symeon the asekretis (who later became patrikios and
protasekretis) passed through the country, he took the gold and the gifts
that Rhodophylles had simply left along the road; for doing so Rhodophylles
was severely beaten and died. On learning that the Tripolitan planned to

1 Psalms 73(74).3-4.

2 Leo died 11 May 912. If the attack on his life (see above, §§ 36-37) is correctly dated
to 11 May 903, he died at the very beginning of the tenth year after this attack.

3 Cf. below, § 49: she had not been made an empress at this time nor was she even
married to him (i.e. given the crown of marriage).

4 This is Leo of Tripoli (Rasiq al-Wardami, or Ghulam Zurafa), a convert to Islam who
became a successful admiral of the Arabs. His expedition against the Byzantines took place
in 904, Thessalonica falling 31 July of that year.

5 I.e. they continued into the Marmara Sea.

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213

destroy the city of Thessalonica, Symeon asked him to take the gold and
leave the city alone. He even persuaded him to do so and he received a
written guarantee, and so he agreed to give the Tripolitan the gold for
leaving the city alone. 1 And so it happened. 42 On the pretext of going out
to his monastery, named Ta Speira, the one at Damatrys, 2 Samonas fled
with his money and his horses, having hamstrung the public horses at the
respective stations. 3 On learning this, the emperor sends Basil Kamateros,
the hetaireiarches, and George Krinites after him to overtake him. And
when Samonas was about to pass the Halys river, Nikephoros the
droungarios, the one called Kaminas, caught up with him and stopped
him from crossing. At this, Samonas came up with many promises, but on
failing to persuade Nikephoros, he took refuge in the Holy Cross at
Siricha, pretending that he had made the journey because of his faith in
the Cross. 43 Then Constantine Doukas arrived and took Samonas with
him and returned to the City. The emperor ordered that Samonas should
be kept under surveillance in the house of Caesar Bardas. The emperor
asked Constantine Doukas about Samonas and, having learnt that he
really had tried to escape to Syria, he told Doukas not to say so in front of
the Senate; when asked about this, he should just say that Samonas had
gone to Siricha to pray. For the emperor wanted to be reconciled with
Samonas. 44 Hence, the emperor called Constantine Doukas in front of all
those in authority and said: ‘By the name of God and by my head: did
Samonas flee or not?’ Earlier, however, Constantine had said to the
emperor, that he would pot say what he was told to say if he had to take an
oath. When he now heard the oaths, he said frankly and in front of
everyone that Samonas had fled to Syria. This made the emperor furious,
and he sent Constantine away. Samonas had to spend four months in the
house of Bardas but was reconciled while the emperor was still reigning.
45 At this time a comet also appeared, which sent its rays in an easterly
direction, and was visible for forty days and nights. 4 46 Samonas was
made patrikios after his flight. 47 Leo had a son, named Constantine, by

1 This passage is somewhat tautological and it may be that the Greek text is not sound.

2 This is probably modern-day Samandira, actually within the boundaries of present-day
Istanbul (cf. Mango/Scott 1997, p. 531, n. 11). The point, however, is that it was on the Asian
side, and beyond the City walls, and that Samonas, having come that far, could hope for
further escape towards the East and the Arabs through a laxity of control. The most difficult
thing for a person like Samonas was presumably obtaining an excuse to get out of the palace.

3 The flight of Samonas took place in the spring of either 904 or 905.

4 This comet was probably visible in late spring 905.

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Zoe, his fourth wife. 1 At Epiphany, this son was baptised by Nicholas the
patriarch in the Great Church, and was received by 2 Alexander the emperor
and Samonas the patrikios and all those in high office. 48 Also at this time
Kyphe was made a home for the elderly, and the prostitutes were chased
away. 49 After the feast, 3 Leo the emperor was blessed together with Zoe
by Thomas the presbyteros, who was later ousted from office. 4 Leo also
proclaimed Zoe augusta, and for this reason the patriarch prevented the
emperor from entering the church. Instead, he had to go from the right side
as far as the metatorikion, s and was not able to walk through the church in
the usual way. 50 Samonas was appointed parakoimomenos because of his
support for the emperor in every lawless and evil action, and he began to
plot against the Church. On the first of February they invited Nicholas the
patriarch to court and entreated him earnestly to accept the situation. 6
When they did not succeed in this, they took him from the banquet hall
through the Boukoleon and put him in a small boat and ferried him over to
Hieria. From there he had to accomplish a laborious march on foot through
deep snow 7 in order to get to Galakrenai. 8 In his stead, Euthymios the
synkellos is made patriarch, a pious man showing both self-discipline and
discretion. They say that he accepted the office after a divine revelation,
which told him that the emperor planned a heresy and to issue a law that
would allow a man to have three or four wives and that many most learned
men would support the emperor in this. 9 51 In the month of June, Leo the

1 This is the future emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. He was born at an
uncertain date in 905 and baptised 6 January 906.

2 Greek 8el;ap6va)v: this should mean that all these people became his godparents. The
question may be asked how many godparents there could be.

3 ‘After the feast’: this must refer to the story told in § 47. The information contained in
§ 48 looks like a secondary insertion into the text.

4 This is the inception of the tetragamy controversy, triggered by Leo’s insistence to
legalise his relationship with Zoe Carbonopsina. Leo and Zoe married in spring/summer of
906.

5 The metatorikionlmitatorion was a room, or suite of rooms, in St Sophia where the
emperor could change clothes, take meals, etc. Cf. also below, § 60.

6 I.e. to accept the marriage of Leo and Zoe as legal and their offspring as the rightful
heir to the throne. This was 1 February 907.

7 Or: ‘in heavy snowfall.’

8 This was on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus (as is also Hieria).

9 The logic would be that Euthymios thought that he would be able to exert some
moderation over the emperor if he accepted office as patriarch. It is an interesting question
whether the four marriages of Leo were associated in some people’s minds with Muslim
practices and Leo was suspected of being a crypto-Muslim.

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emperor was invited by Constantine Lips to his monastery situated in
Merdosagari, 1 in order to inaugurate it and have lunch. But then the wind
called Lips came up, which blew until the third hour, 2 shaking and
disturbing houses and churches, so that everyone fled into the open air and
said that it was the end of the world, if God’s love of humanity did not stop
this destruction through rain. 3 52 The emperor made Himerios, the
logothetes tou dromou, head of all the naval forces; for the fleet of the
Hagarenes had taken to the sea against the Romans. 4 Andronikos Doukas
also received the command to embark on the ships together with the
logothete Himerios and to fight the Hagarenes. Now, Samonas was the
irreconcilable enemy of Andronikos and he was constantly and in many
ways scheming against him, and he tried to harm Andronikos by every
method and with great energy; this he did after returning from his flight.
He made someone secretly write to Andronikos: ‘Do not embark on the
boats; if you do, you will be apprehended by Himerios. For Samonas has
suggested to the emperor that you should be apprehended and blinded by
him.’ 53 Himerios entreated Andronikos earnestly to embark on the ships
against the Hagarenes but he did not comply, although the Hagarenes were
pressing on. Therefore, on St Thomas’ day 5 Himerios alone joined battle
with the Hagarenes and achieved a great victory. On learning this,
Andronikos despaired and, together with his relatives and men, he went
away and seized the fortress of Kabala. 6 At this open act of rebellion,
Samonas said to the emperor: ‘Did I not tell you, my Lord, that Doukas was
your enemy?’ 54 At once the emperor sent Gregoras, the domestikos of the
scholai, also named Iberitzes, an in-law of Andronikos, to defeat him.
When Andronikos learnt this, and also that the patriarch Nicholas had been
ousted from the Church, he fled, together with his relatives and children
and friends, to the Hagarenes, who at that time had gone out against the
Romans, and he was received with great honour by the emir. 7 55 Leo the

1 The monastery is today the Fenari Isa Camii.

2 ‘third hour’ (Greek tpfrou): this is unclear and the translation not certain.

3 This is an odd story, and its function in this context hard to grasp. Also the connection
between the family name of Constantine and the wind is unclear.

4 This was in 905 or 906.

5 I.e. 6 October (for the year, see previous note).

6 This is in Asia Minor, not the Kavalla in northern Greece.

7 Andronikos’ flight must have taken place shortly after Nicholas’ abdication from the
patriarchate in February 907. The emir mentioned is presumably the Arab naval commander
(or the seventeenth Abbasid caliph, Al-Muktafi).

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emperor was very distressed on account of Andronikos and he often
thought about sending him a written guarantee, in the way Theophilos
had done with Manuel. 1 Some people suggested to the emperor that he
should make friends with one of the Saracens employed at the praitorion
and send him to Syria with such a letter. This the emperor did, and he
wrote in red ink and sent it with a chrysobulP concealed in a small wax
candle. 56 When the Saracen came out from the audience with the
emperor, Samonas called after him and said: ‘Do you know what you are
carrying?’ (he was alluding to the wax candle) ‘The ruin of Syria.’ And he
gave him money and gifts and entreated him to give these into the hands
of the vizier. And this the man did when he came there. But Andronikos
was apprehended [by the vizier] and fettered together with all his relatives,
and on learning that this had happened to him because of the guile of
Samonas, and being subjected to torture, 3 he renounced his Christian faith
and became a Moslem, and so did all his men. 57 A short while after this,
on knowing that it would be impossible for Andronikos ever to escape, his
son Constantine and others fled on their own (this they did on Andronikos’
suggestion)—a truly remarkable flight by which they escaped from the
middle of Syria and arrived in Romania fighting their way; 4 only a few,
and with great difficulty, were thus saved, including Andronikos’ son
Constantine. 58 Abalbakes the Old and the father of Samonas came to the
City from Tarsos asking for a treaty, and the emperor received them in the
Magnaura with dignity and tokens of respect and esteem. 5 They even
embellished the Great Church with costly adornments and showed all the
holy vessels to the Hagarenes—an act unwdrthy of the empire and the
Christian state, namely that the Gentiles should see God’s holy vessels.
Samonas’ father wanted to be with his son and to stay in Romania. But
Samonas spoke kindly to him and said: ‘Keep the faith which you have;
instead, if I can, I will rather come to you.’ 59 On the day of Pentecost Leo
the emperor has his son Constantine crowned by Euthymios the patriarch. 6
60 Samonas offered one of his men to work for the augusta Zoe. This man
was named Constantine and he had previously worked for Basil the

1 See above, Chapter 130, §§ 17-18.

2 I.e with an actual golden seal (although the term chrysobull also is used for solemn
documents in general).

3 ‘torture’: or ‘put under pressure’ (Greek dvayKaaOsh;).

4 ‘fighting their way’ (KaTajtoXspotipsvot Kara ydipac;).

5 This was perhaps in the spring of908.

6 Probably 15 May 908.

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217

magistros and kanikleios. This Constantine became very dear to the
emperor Leo and the augusta, and for this reason Samonas grew very
jealous of him and started to slander him, saying that he had an improper
relationship with the augusta. The emperor thought this might be true,
and by the agency of Samonas he had Constantine sent to the monastery
of St Tarasios and tonsured there. But some time later he ordered Samonas
to receive him into his own monastery of Ta Speira, with the intention of
having him accepted at court again. Then it happened that the emperor
went on a procession to Damatrys, and he had lunch in Samonas’
monastery. There he saw Constantine, and at once he gave an order to
Samonas, and Samonas had Constantine dressed in secular clothing, and
Constantine served the emperor at the table and returned with him to the
palace. Seeing, however, that the emperor’s affection for Constantine is
growing, Samonas contrives a conspiracy together with the megistos
koitonites 1 and Michael, son of Tzerithon. They set up a document full of
slander aimed at 2 the emperor; the document is formulated by Rhodios,
the notarios 3 of Samonas, and written in his hand. When the emperor
came to the Great Church he found this document in the place where he
used to pray, in the mitatorion , 4 and he took it and read it and was highly
distressed and wanted to know who had done this. 61 There was also a
lunar eclipse and the emperor ordered the astronomers of the day to tell
what would come of it. 5 When the metropolitan Pantoleon, who was a
friend of Samonas, came and was on his way in to the emperor, Samonas
asked him: ‘Who will suffer ^rom this?’ Pantoleon said to him: ‘You will,
but if you can make it past the thirteenth of June, you will not suffer any
harm.’ But to the emperor they said that the moon meant harm to the
second [in rank], and the emperor supposed this to refer to his brother.
Later, however, Tzerithon told the emperor in private that Samonas had
made up the document, 6 and at once the emperor has Samonas removed to
his own house and has him tonsured and taken to the monastery of the

1 ‘chief koitonites.'

2 ‘aimed at the emperor’ (Karfi too PacnXtoi;): this is a little unclear, since it would seem
that the sole purpose of the conspiracy was to get rid of Constantine. For the development of
the story see following §.

3 In this case this title seems to denote the private secretary of an individual. In other
cases (see Index of terms and concepts) it is the title of a government official.

4 Or: metator(ik)ion (cf. above, § 49).

5 This eclipse took place 20 March 908.

6 See above, § 60.

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patriarch Euthymios. But after this he became once again the subject of
slander, and they removed him to the monastery of Martinakios. Leo
made Constantine parakoimomenos, and he built him a monastery in
Hosiai, and he went out together with Euthymios the patriarch and
inaugurated it. 62 In the month of October 1 a naval battle was fought
between the logothete Himerios and the Hagarenes Damian and Leo;
Romanos, who later became emperor, was a strategos at Samos at this
time. 2 Himerios was defeated in this and barely escaped, and almost
everyone who was there came into danger. 3 63 The emperor Leo began to
suffer from an ailment of the stomach 4 so that he was not able to come out
to the Magnaura and make his public speech at the beginning of Lent. 5
There was also a fire in the candle storage room of the Great Church, and
all the boxes and bags containing documents, including those of the
sakelle, 6 were destroyed by the fire. On the eleventh of May the emperor
Leo dies having named his brother Alexander emperor. 7 It is said that Leo,
on seeing Alexander entering his room, uttered: ‘Beware, the bad time
will come in thirteen months.’ 8 And he begged and entreated Alexander to
take care of his son Constantine.

1 This was in October 911.

2 I.e. Romanos I Lekapenos.

3 ‘danger’ (tavSoveuadvTtov): perhaps a euphemism for actually dying (‘succumb to
danger’).

4 The explicit mentioning of the whereabouts of his illness could be a hint that this
should be considered a death befitting a person having committed the kind of sins that Leo
had (i.e. sins of sexual indulgence, having married four times). Cf. the fate of Zeno (Chapter
101, § 4) and of Leo III (Chapter 121, § 19).

5 This was 4 March 912.

6 Or: sakellion (cf. above. Chapter 132, § 11). In this case (as, perhaps, opposed to above,
Chapter 132, § 11) it is probably a question of the sakelle of St Sophia only (and not of the
imperial administration).

7 This would seem to imply that Alexander had not the title of emperor until this
moment. However, § 47 above would seem to state implicitly that he was emperor earlier. Cf.
also Chapter 132, § 27, which is ambiguous.

8 Alexander died after a reign of thirteen months (see below). Cf. also above, § 61, and
the prophecy made after the lunar eclipse.

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219

134 Alexander, Son of Basil

Alexander reigned for one year and twenty-nine days, together with
Constantine, son of Leo. 1 2 He sent for Nicholas and brought him from
Galakrenai, and, deposing Euthymios, he enthroned Nicholas for a second
term. 2 Alexander held a selention and a synod 3 in the Magnaura, and brought
Euthymios from the Agathos monastery of the Stenon, and, seating him
with Nicholas the patriarch, they dethroned Euthymios [formally], and they
tore off the priestly and admirable man his honourable beard in an unworthy
manner and subjected him to other kinds of outrage and punishment, which
the honourable and holy man bore quietly and without complaint. And
thereupon he was once again exiled to the Agathos monastery, where he
died; he was buried in his own monastery, at Psamathia, 4 in the capital.
3 Because of the suspicions which his brother Leo had entertained against
him when he lived, this man Alexander had been busy with hunting and
had resided in palaces outside the capital, and he had not accomplished
any deed worthy of an emperor but had led a life of constant luxury and
licentiousness and drunkenness. For this reason he did not do anything
noble when he became emperor. Instead, his first decision in office was to
make the priest John, called Lazares, a rector, after the death of Alexander,
this man met with a bad end while playing ball 5 in Hebdomon. 4 Alexander
did, it is told, also greatly enrich Gabrilopoulos and Basilitzes the Slav
with treasures from the palace. They also say that he planned to make
Basil 6 emperor (he was childjess himself) and have Constantine, Leo’s
son, castrated. He had often expressed this intention, but he was always

1 Alexander reigned 11 May 912-6 June 913 (however we count, this is a little less than
one year and twenty-eight days). Cf. for this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 188-190,
with further bibliography), and Ps.-Symeon 715.19-718.2.

2 I do not think that the text is sound at this point, and I think it likely that it actually
was Leo who called Nicholas back (see S. Wahlgren, ‘The Return of Nicholas I Mystikos
to the Patriarchate: the evidence of the Chronicle of the Logothete once more,’ Classica et
Medievalia 52 (2001), pp. 217-222).

3 I.e. a convention of the Senate and of bishops, for the purpose mentioned below.

4 This is present-day Samatya (in the Fatih district), on the shore of the Marmara Sea.

5 Probably during a game of tzykanion, or polo (cf. below, § 9, the similar death of
Alexander himself). It has been suggested, not very plausibly in my opinion, that there is a
confusion here and that the death of John was transferred to Alexander (P. Karlin-Hayter,
‘The Emperor Alexander’s Bad Name,’ Speculum 44:4 (1969), p. 590).

6 Basil and Basilitzes here denote the same man (it may be especially fitting to use such
a diminutive as -tzes to a Slav man, considering the tendency in Slavonic to use diminutives).

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221

diverted by those who had been helped by Leo who either said that, anyhow,

Constantine was just a child, or, as they sometimes did, suggested that he

was in poor health. 5 During the reign of this emperor, a comet appeared

from the West for fifteen days. This they said was called Xiphias and

that it signified bloodshed in the City. 1 6 This emperor delivered himself

into the hands of frauds and magicians. These even convinced him that

‘the statue of the boar in the hippodrome is dedicated to 2 you and your

life,’ thereby implying that the foolish man lived the life of a swine. He

was deceived by these, and he had the boar’s genitals and teeth, which

were missing, 3 renewed and, trusting to the same deception, he organised j

games at the hippodrome, and he took holy vestments and candle-stands

from the churches and decorated the hippodrome with them, and he made

a light-show in honour of the statues. Because of this, God’s Hand was

removed from him, for he had given to the idols the honour due to God.

7 When Himerios the logothete returned after the defeat by the Hagarenes,
Alexander sent him into exile in the monastery at the Palatine called
Kalypa, 4 and he threatened him and said that he had been his enemy in
the days of his brother Leo. 5 Himerios was taken ill because of his great
grief, and he died after six months in exile. 8 Symeon, the ruler of the
Bulgarians, sent an embassy to Alexander with a message of peace and
friendship and reverence, just as he had done in the days when Leo was the
emperor. Alexander, influenced by folly and thoughtlessness, dismissed the
envoys dishonourably, hitting out at Symeon with threats. Therefore, the
peace was dissolved at this time, and Symeon began to prepare himself
to take arms against the Christians. 6 9 One day during the heat of the Dog
Star 7 Alexander had lunch and got drunk and went down to play ball, 8 and
he was struck by a God-driven sword, and he returned to the palace with

1 ‘The Sword Fish (Sword-Bearer)’: presumably Halley’s Comet, which was visible in
the summer of 912.

2 Ancient statues and monuments as well as places (especially the hippodrome) were
viewed with distrust by some and thought to have voodoo-like properties.

3 Or: ‘since they were defective in his own case.’

4 I.e. in the Great Palace itself.

5 Himerios may have returned to Constantinople at the end of May 912 and died in
November of the same year.

6 Symeon and the other Bulgarians were, of course, also Christians at this time.

7 This is at least a little imprecise: Alexander died 6 June 913, and by any definition the
heat of the Dog Star (Sirius) should be later than this.

8 This is presumably a game of polo, and the manner of death the well-deserved, violent
death of an evil person (cf. above, § 3, the similar fate of John Lazares).

much blood running from his nose and from his genitals. He died two days
later, leaving as guardians the patriarch Nicholas, the magistros Stephen,
the magistros John Helladas, John the rector, Euthymios, Basilitzes and
Gabrilopoulos. He left the throne to Constantine, the son of Leo. They laid
Alexander to rest in the mausoleum next to his father Basil.

135 Constantine, the Son of Leo

Constantine, who was still a child when his father Leo died (he was then in
his seventh year), was left to rule by his uncle Alexander, under the charge
of guardians. 1 Thus he reigned with his guardians and his mother for
another seven years; and he reigned together with Romanos, his father-in-
law, being subordinate to him, for a further twenty-six years; and he ruled
as sole ruler for fifteen years. Consequently the total duration of his rule
amounted to fifty-five years. 2 2 Now, when the patriarch Nicholas gained
control of the palace (for he, too, was one of the guardians), together with
the magistros Stephen and John Helladas, who was also a magistros , he
took care of the common good and paid daily attention to the matters of
importance to the reign. 3 In this political situation, some leading men of
the City suggest to Constantine Doukas, a domestikos of the scholai, that he
could enter the City and that he would be able to bring it under his control
without effort; they did so because they held him in esteem for being
courageous and of gqod sense and well able to govern the empire. 3 At this,
Constantine, who even before this had been dreaming about becoming
emperor and was coveting the crown, travelled at the greatest speed possible
to the capital with a large number of the elite troops under his command.

1 Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 191-205). See also ps.-Symeon
718.3-727.4.

2 Fifty-five is probably the correct number for the years of his life, not for his reign.
Constantine was bom (probably) 2 September 905 and was crowned co-emperor 15 May
908, and his father, Leo VI, died 11 May 912—i.e. when Constantine was in his seventh year.
After Alexander’s death (6 June 913) there was a caretaker government for around seven
years until the rise to power of Romanos Lekapenos (crowned 17 December 920). There was
then joint government with the Lekapenoi until the dethronement of the younger Lekapenoi
on 27 January 945 (this could account for the twenty-six years mentioned: Romanos himself
had been ousted in December 944). After this, and until his death on 9 November 959,
Constantine reigned as supreme emperor, i.e. for around fifteen years. Needless to say, this
part of the text must have been finished after the death of Constantine.

3 The rebellion of Constantine Doukas (described in §§ 3-9) took place in 913.

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And during the night, he entered the City by the side-gate, which was under
the control of the protovestiarios Michael (this is close to the Acropolis),
and, together with his men, spent the night awake in the house of his father-
in-law, Gregoras. 4 Niketas, the asekretis who later became protonotarios ,'
announced Constantine’s arrival to the patrikios Constantine and to a
monk, Helladikos, 2 and both of these visited Constantine Doukas in the
course of the same night, and they held a discussion and, even before day
broke (while it was still dark), they went, heavily armed, to the hippodrome
gate with torches and many people, and they hailed Constantine as emperor.

5 Constantine’s groom was ambushed and killed there by people standing
on the inside of the gates of the hippodrome. Then, when he was not
accepted by the people there but was rejected, Constantine, in his desire for
power, behaved as though in a frenzy caused by some demon and as if he
was out of his mind, and retreated into 3 the hippodrome in a despondent
and dispirited mood, considering the killing of his groom a bad omen.

6 From there, he proceeded amidst acclamations to what is known as the
Chalke and, having entered through the Iron Gate of this Chalke, he came
to the exkoubitoi. At this, the magistros John Helladas picked men from the
hetaireia and some wagon drivers and sent them armed against Doukas.
When these came to the Chalke, a battle ensued and many fell victim to the
sword on both sides—in fact, so many that the place was flooded with blood
that flowed like a river. Gregoras, the son of Doukas, was also killed, and
Michael his cousin, and that Kourtikes, 4 who was of Armenian descent.

7 On learning this, Constantine Doukas charged on horseback while the
greatest confusion ensued. But the horse slipped on the paving slabs there
and threw its rider to the ground and someone, who saw him there, thrown
to the ground and alone (for all the others had dispersed), cut off his head
with his sword. 8 When this had happened, Gregoras, the magistros who
was his father-in-law, together with Leo, whom they called Choirosphaktes, 5
took refuge in the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God. 6 But they were torn

1 Chief notary (for notarios see Chapter 133, § 60).

2 A personal name is lacking (Helladikos probably denoting origin only (‘from the
province of Hellas’) or being a family name). One MS gives the name of this monk as
Michael.

3 ‘into the hippodrome’: perhaps there is a textual problem here (depending upon
whether we find it likely or not that he went further into the hippodrome at this moment).

4 Cf. Chapter 133, § 16.

5 I.e. ‘Pig-killer.’

6 I.e. St Sophia.

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223

away from there by force and were tonsured in the Stoudios monastery.
Also, Constantine Helladikos was flogged, and they dressed him in rags
and put him on a donkey and paraded him through the City and then brought
him to the Dalmatos monastery and locked him up in the so-called katadike. 1
Leo Katakalitzes and Abessalom, the son of Arotras, were blinded and sent
into exile. Constantine the son of Eulampios and others with him had their
heads cut off by the sword in the Sphendone of the hippodrome; this was
done by the hyparchos Philotheos, the son of Lampoudes. 9 An extensive
investigation was carried out concerning the whereabouts of Niketas, the
asekretis, and of Constantine Lips; however, they were not found, and it
was supposed that they had fled. But that man Aigides, 2 and many of his
associates, who were valiant men, they put all to the stake 3 in a row, all the
way from the Stone Heifer at Chrysopolis as far as Leukaton. 4 And these
so-called guardians would mercilessly and without reason have killed many
more people in high office at that time had some of the judges not held them
back from their unjust impulse by saying to them: ‘How do you presume to
do such things when the emperor is still a child and you cannot get his order
for it?’ 5 The wife of Doukas they made a mm, sending her to her house in
Paphlagonia, and they made her son Stephen a eunuch. 10 In the month of
August Symeon, the ruler of Bulgaria, marched out against the Romans
with a great crowd of people. 6 He arrived at Constantinople and surrounded
it and built a palisade from the Blachemai as far as what is known as the
Golden Gate, having the unrealistic hope that he would be able to seize the
City without great effort. However, when he realised the strength of the City
walls and the degree of safety provided by the mass of people and the
weapons and the catapults that were employed, he lost hope and retreated to
the area called Hebdomon and asked for a truce. 11 The regency council
accepts the prospect of peace with great joy, and Symeon sends his
magistros Theodore to discuss conditions. The patriarch Nicholas and the
magistroi Stephen and John took the emperor with them and went to
Blachemai and brought Symeon’s two sons there, and they dined with the

1 I.e. in prison.

2 This man does not seem to occur otherwise in this text.

3 stake : Greek StSbpon; co/.oic, i.e. a kind of crucifixion.

4 I.e. close to Constantinople, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus/Sea of Marmara. The
Stone Heifer was a famous statue.

5 If not evidence of the independence of the judiciary, this is at least indicative of the
authority enjoyed by judges.

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emperor in the palace. But Nicholas the patriarch went out to Symeon, and
Symeon bent his head to him. Having uttered a prayer, the patriarch, it is
said, then put his own monastic cowl 1 on Symeon’s head instead of a crown.
Having been given countless precious gifts, Symeon and his sons then
returned to their country without having reached an agreement on the
afore-mentioned peace. 12 Since the emperor Constantine was a child and
wanted his mother (earlier, the emperor Alexander had removed her from
the palace), they once again bring her to the palace. When she gains power,
she brings to the palace Constantine the parakoimomenos, and the brothers
Constantine and Anastasios, with the by-name Gongylios, and at the
suggestion of John Helladas the friends of the emperor Alexander are
removed: John the rector and the man called Gabrilopoulos and Basilitzes
and the others. 13 The augusta Zoe appoints Theophylaktos Domenikos to
the office of hetaireiarches. John Helladas, the magistros, fell ill and,
having been considered a hopeless case by the doctors, he went down from
the palace and came to Blachernai where he died, burdened by the illness.
On the advice of Domenikos the hetaireiarches, Zoe removes 2 the patriarch
Nicholas together with his men after having told him in a fit of anger to
mind the business of the Church [only]. Shortly after this, Constantine the
parakoimomenos accuses Domenikos the hetaireiarches before the augusta
of trying to usurp imperial power on behalf of his brother. They used his
appointment as patrikios as a pretext 3 and, when he went down to the
church to receive the customary blessing, they ordered him to stay in his
house. Zoe promoted John Garidas to the office of hetaireiarches and
Damianos, the eunuch, to the office of droungarios of the vigla. But
Domenikos retreated to his house, lamenting to no avail. 14 The Bulgarian
Symon was ravaging Thrace once more, and the augusta and those holding
high office were concerned about how to prevent his presumptuous activities.
At this point, John Bogas asked to be made patrikios, and promised that he
would lead the Pechenegs 4 against Symeon. When his wish was granted and
he had received many gifts, he went to the country of the Pechenegs and
received hostages from them and brought these to the City. The agreement
was that the Pechenegs should cross over 5 and defeat Symeon. 15 Also,

1 Cf. Wortley 2010, p. 194, n. 22.

2 I.e. from the regency council.

3 I.e. in order to get at him.

4 Semi-nomadic Turks coming into contact with the Byzantines from the ninth c.

5 I.e. cross the Danube and enter Byzantine territory.

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Asotios arrived in the City. 1 He was a man of the greatest fame for his
physical strength, and he was the son of the King of Kings. They say that he
was able to hold an iron bar by its ends and, using his hands’ extreme
strength, bend it into a circle, so that the iron’s rigid nature had to yield to his
hands’ violent pressure. On his arrival, he was received with great honour;
he was then sent back to his own country. 16 In the month of September, in
the third indiction, Pankratoukas the Armenian betrayed Adrianople to
Symeon. 2 Shortly after this, Basil, the patrikios and kanikleios, together
with Niketas the protospatharios, called Helladikos, 3 was sent [to Symeon]
by Zoe with many gifts, and he received the city of Adrianople back.
17 Further, the emir Damian came to the island of Strobilos with warships
and a great force and, had he not fallen ill and died, he would have captured
the island. 4 The Hagarenes had to return home empty-handed. The
inhabitants of Hellas and Athens were constantly vexed by Chase, the son of
Ioube, and, unable to stand his recklessness and greed any longer, they
subjected him to a violent death, stoning him within the sanctuary in the
church in Athens. 5 18 Seeing Symeon’s uprising and his attack on the
Christians, the empress Zoe, together with her leading men, makes a plan to
achieve a treaty and a lasting peace with the Hagarenes, to make it possible
to transfer all the armed forces of the East 6 in order to defeat and annihilate
Symeon. The patrikios John Radinos and Michael Toxaras were therefore
sent to Syria to conclude a treaty. When this had been done, they made the
customary distribution of payment among the tagmata, and they brought
these along together with the themata and crossed over to Thracian territory;
this was while Leo Phokas the magistros was domestikos. 19 Constantine,
th eprotopapas 7 in the palace, called Kephalas, and Constantine of Malelia
brought the life-giving and venerable wood 8 out to Thrace, and everyone
venerated it and swore on it that they would die for each other; and so they

1 This is Ashot II, king of Armenia 914-928 (and probably recognised as king already at
the time of his visit to Constantinople in 914; he was the son of Smbat I). The purpose of the
visit was to elicit Byzantine aid against his enemies, such as the Arabs.

2 This was in September 914.

3 Or: ‘from the province of Hellas.’

4 Damian was the emir of Tarsos (or Tyros). He died, probably in 924, while attacking
the island fortress of Strobilos in the Kibyrrhaiot thema.

5 This is presumably the cathedral church, i.e. the Parthenon.

6 I.e. transfer them to the West.

7 Head priest of church or other ecclesiastical unit.

8 I.e. a relic of the Holy Cross.

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went in full force against the Bulgarians. John Grapson led the tagma of the
exkoubitoi, and the tagma of the hikanatoi was led by the son of Maroules. 1
Romanos Argyros acted as strategos together with his brother Leo and
Bardas Phokas. With them were also Melias 2 and the Armenians as well as
all the other strategoi of the themata. With Leo the domestikos was also,
amongst others, Constantine the patrikios, called Lips, who was his
counsellor in all matters of importance. 20 On the twentieth of the month of
August, in the fifth indiction, 3 the war between the Bulgarians and the
Romans broke out at the Acheloos river and, since God’s judgements are
inscrutable and unsearchable, the Romans are routed with all their army.
Full flight ensued, and a terrible, wailing cry was heard, and some were
trampled down by their comrades, and some were killed by the enemy, and
there was the worst bloodshed for a century. Leo the domestikos saved
himself by fleeing to Mesembria. Amongst many others, Constantine Lips
and John Grapson and a good number of other leaders were also killed in
this battle. 21 At this time also, the patrikios Romanos, 4 who was droungarios
of the fleet, 5 was sent to the river Danube with the whole fleet, in order to
help Leo Phokas. John Bogas was also sent to bring down the Pechenegs for,
as has been said, 6 the droungarios Romanos had been ordered to bring them
over the river, to support Leo Phokas against the Bulgarians. However,
Romanos and John Bogas started a dispute and a quarrel, and the Pechenegs,
seeing them fighting each other and disagreeing, returned to their own
country. 22 When the war had ended and Romanos and Bogas had returned
to the City, matters were stirred up against them. This brought the
droungarios Romanos into extreme danger. There was even a vote passed
by his enemies to have him deprived of his eyesight. The alleged reason was
that he had not shipped the Pechenegs over the river but had retreated quite
hastily without even taking the fleeing Romans on board his ships, and that
he had done so by negligence or even with malicious intent. And he would
indeed have been blinded had not the verdict been annulled through the
agency of the patrikios Constantine Gongyles and the magistros Stephen,
who wielded great influence with the augusta. 23 Elated by the victory, the

1 Named Olbian Marsoules in Skylitzes (see Wortley 2010, p. 197).

2 For this Melias (Armenian Mleh), who fought against the enemies of Byzantium, see
Wortley 2010, p. 217.

3 This was 20 August 917.

4 This is the future emperor Romanos I Lekapenos.

5 I.e. commander of the fleet based in Constantinople.

6 See above, § 14.

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227

Bulgarians made a military expedition, which brought them as far as the
City, and the domestikos of the scholai Leo went out against them together
with the hetaireiarches John and Nicholas, the son of Doukas, and a lot of
men, and they came to a Thracian village called Katasyrtai. 1 During the
night, the Bulgarians unexpectedly fell upon them and, while the domestikos
fled, Nicholas, the son of Doukas, was killed, and many others with him.
24 Seeing that Constantine the parakoimomenos was trying to appoint his
son-in-law Leo to the throne, Theodore, who was the emperor Constantine’s
tutor, suggested to the emperor Constantine that he should take the
droungarios Romanos into his private service. For Romanos had served the
family since Constantine s father’s time and was well disposed towards him.
He suggested that Romanos should be with the emperor and protect him,
and that the emperor should have him as his ally and assistant in every case
of need. This had often been mentioned to Romanos, but he had always
rejected the idea. 2 Now the emperor Constantine wrote a letter in his own
hand and signed it with his signature and sent it to Romanos who, on
receiving it into his hands, promised to attack the parakoimomenos
Constantine and his family if necessary. 25 While this rumour was current,
the parakoimomenos Constantine tried to force Romanos to set sail with the
fleet. Romanos, however, refused to do so, saying that it was impossible to
make the fleet sail off before they had received the payment they were
entitled to. While Romanos was occupied with the preparation of the ships,
Constantine the parakoimomenos went out as if to hasten his fleet’s
departure. Romanos greeted him with servile demeanour and eagerly
promised to do as he was told. But when the parakoimomenos was ready to
depart, he asked Romanos whether he had good-looking men of noble birth
who would be suitable to row the imperial trireme. Romanos immediately
signalled to his men, who were standing by, to come close; those 3 who knew
about the plan were already standing very close to Romanos’ trireme.
Romanos walked behind the parakoimomenos Constantine, grabbed him
and shouted: Seize him.’ And at once they took him and put him on the
trireme of the droungarios Romanos and kept him under surveillance. There
was no one who tried to protect the man or was sorry for him, for all his
supporters had fled. 26 On learning this, the augusta Zoe summons the
patriarch Nicholas and her leading men to the palace, and she sends

1 This is most probably still in 917.

2 Presumably, the modesty of the future emperor is demonstrated by this.

3 The structure of the following sentences is loose and the translation somewhat free.

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messengers to Romanos, eager to learn what had happened. 1 When these
arrived, the people drove them away by throwing stones at them. The
following morning, Zoe went out to the heliakon at the Boukoleon and
shouted to her son and everyone: ‘How did this plot happen?’ The emperor
Constantine’s tutor, Theodore, said to her: ‘This happened because Leo
Phokas corrupted the Romans and Constantine the parakoimomenos the
palace.’ As a consequence of this, the emperor took Nicholas the patriarch
and Stephen the magistros to be with him in the palace, transferring the
power from his mother to himself. 27 The following day, the emperor sent
John Toubakes to remove Zoe, the augusta, from the palace. But she held on
to her son, crying and shedding tears, and moved him to sympathy and
mercy towards his mother, and thus the emperor said: ‘Let my mother be
with me!’ As soon as he had uttered this, they left her in peace. 28 The
emperor and the patriarch summoned John Garidas to the palace and
promoted him to be domestikos of the scholar, this they did out of fear that
Leo Phokas should proceed to an act of rebellion. He [John Garidas] only
agreed to this on condition that his wife’s brother, Theodore Zoufinezer, and
his son, Symeon, were promoted to the rank of hetaireiarches. Having
received sworn assurances, he [Leo Phokas] went down to his house.
However, immediately upon this, his relatives were removed from the
palace. 2 When he saw them arrive at his house, fear overtook him and he lost
his mind, and so he went straight away to Romanos and told him what had
happened. Romanos made friends with him and gave and received pledges
from him to the effect that they should be of one soul, and he acted in
agreement and accordance with him. They even made an agreement of
marriage between their families, so as to tighten the bond of love even
more. 3 29 Thus, on the twenty-fourth of March, 4 Romanos sends the
presbyteros John, who was one of his men and most loyal to him, and
Theodore, called Matzoukes, to the palace to speak on his behalf and to say,
that ‘what I did was not an act of rebellion, but I foresaw the attack by
Phokas, and I feared that he would attempt a coup against the emperor;
therefore I decided to come up to the palace and assume the protection of the
emperor.’ 30 At this juncture (this went against the wish of the patriarch

1 This train of events took place in 918 (see § 29).

2 The text is not fully clear at this point. Cf. Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, p. 201).

3 Despite this, Leo Phokas embarked on rebellion even after this (see below, Chapter
136, §4).

4 24 March 918.

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229

Nicholas 1 ), Romanos was formally asked by Theodore, the afore-mentioned
tutor to the emperor Constantine, to come with the whole fleet to the
Boukoleon. 2 Having discussed the matter with his men (for the situation
forced this upon him 3 ), Romanos came in arms, with the whole fleet, to the
Boukoleon; this was on the day of the Annunciation of the most Holy Mother
of God, on a Thursday. 4 At once, Stephen, the magistros, left the palace, and
Niketas the patrikios, Romanos’ brother-in-law, came up to the palace and
removed the patriarch Nicholas from there. When the people of the palace
had received sworn assurances from Romanos, they sent the venerable and
life-giving Cross of the Lord out to him, and he prostrated himself before it
and gave them pledges by oath and went up with them, and a few other men,
to the palace.

136 The Ascent 5 of Romanos

Romanos prostrated himself before the emperor, and he went with him
into the church at the Pharos and swore loyalty to him, and he is at
once made a magistros and megas hetaireiarches 6 by the emperor. 7
2 Immediately there was issued a divine decree, 8 addressed to Leo Phokas,
urging him not to have any sedition in mind, but to remain quietly at home
for the time being. The parakoimomenos Constantine was also ordered to
write a letter to Leo with a similar recommendation, to the effect that he
should not plan any qction against the emperor Constantine but remain
loyal as his subject. Andreas, primikerios of the imperial vestiarion, 9 took

1 The patriarch is here once more playing at politics.

2 This palace had its own harbour.

3 Greek to yap fiyov rjyev aui6v, a kind of proverbial expression.

4 25 March 919.

5 Perhaps: [last steps on the] road to the throne.’ His ascent had, of course, started long
before. The Greek term is dvbpacm;. In any case, this is a slightly anomalous heading for a
chapter of this text, but perhaps this was only a marginal note referring to the act of going up
to the palace, as described in the preceding paragraph.

6 Senior commander of the hetaireia (cf., however, Chapter 132, § 24, with note on
mikros hetaireiarches).

7 Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 206-224), and Ps.-Symeon 727.4-752.20.

8 divine decree (Oela kc/.cdoic): this is the technical term for a document issued in the
name of the emperor.

9 Primikerios was used as a title for the highest-ranking official in many sections of the
bureaucracy. In this case it is the chief of the imperial treasury.

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231

these messages and brought them to Leo, who was in Cappadocia. Leo
received them and, having read them, went to his house and remained
there quietly. 3 In the fifth week of Holy Lent, in the month of April, 1 a
gift symbolising the pledge of marriage was given by the emperor
Constantine to Helen, daughter of Romanos, and on the third day of
Easter, what is known as the Day of Galilee, 2 Constantine is blessed and
crowned 3 together with Helen, by Nicholas the patriarch, and Constantine
promotes Romanos to basileopator 4 and makes Christopher, son of
Romanos, hetaireiarches in Romanos’ place. 4 Shortly after this, Leo
Phokas is fooled by some commanders and by the tagmata at his disposal
into starting a rebellion, and he sent for the parakoimomenos Constantine
as well as for the brothers Constantine and Anastasios, and for Constantine
of Malelia, the protasekretis, to be with him. He assured everyone that he
was doing all this in order to help the emperor Constantine. 5 Romanos, the
basileopator, issued chrysobulls with the emperor’s signature, as if they
came from the emperor Constantine personally. These documents contained
orders for the overthrow of Leo Phokas’ plot and words to the effect that
those who abandoned him and took refuge with the emperor would be
considered to be in favour of the emperor. Romanos gave the documents to
a certain shameless and daring woman called Anna and to a cleric called
Michael, and he sent them to the camp of Leo Phokas, where they distributed
them secretly to the whole army. However, Michael was discovered by
Phokas, and he was mercilessly beaten and had his nose and ears cut off.
After this, he was given appropriate compensation by Romanos, as was
also the woman sent with him. Now, the first to desert Phokas and to join
Romanos was the son of Barymichael. This signified the beginning of the
collapse of this uprising and rebellion, and together with the son of
Barymichael came Ballantios; both of them were tourmarchai. Then Leo
Phokas arrived in Chrysopolis with a great many heavily armed people,
and he posted squadrons all the way from the Stone Heifer 5 as far as
Chalcedon, thereby intimidating those in the City. 6 So Symeon the epi tou
kanikleiou 6 is sent by Romanos on a dromon carrying a written guarantee
signed by the emperor Constantine, saying the following: ‘Having found no

1 Probably 11 April 919.

2 9 May 919.

3 I.e. with the crown of marriage.

4 Cf. the use of this title for Stylianos Zaoutzes (see above, Chapter 133, § 13).

5 Cf. above. Chapter 135, § 9.

6 I.e. kanikleios (cf. Chapter 131, § 2, with explanatory note).

other of my subjects to be such an extremely vigilant and benign and
faithful protector of my throne as Romanos, I have entrusted my protection
to him (putting him second only to God), and I have decided to have him in
a father’s stead, for he has demonstrated a father’s feelings and a parent’s
disposition towards me. This Leo Phokas I have always suspected of
plotting against my rule, and now, by his very acts, I have found out that he
indeed is a rebel and that he has attempted a rebellion against my power in
the manner of an usurper. Therefore I no longer want him to be domestikos,
and I declare that this rebellion was not provoked by me: he made this attack
by his own decision and in an effort to appropriate the throne for himself.’
7 When this had been read out to the people, everyone began to retreat and
go over to the side of the basileopator Romanos. Not knowing what to do,
and in despair since he had failed in everything he had hoped for, Phokas
fled to the Ateous fortress. There he was not received. During his continued
flight, Phokas was apprehended in a village called Goeleon, 1 and Romanos
sent John Toubakes and Leo, who was his relative, to bring Phokas back to
the City. Seizing Phokas, these men blinded him, although they had not
been authorised to do so. This they did by their own decision and to the
vexation even of the basileopator Romanos. 8 In the month of August, the
plans for a rebellion by Constantine Ktematinos and David Kamoulianos
and Michael, the kourator of the Mangana, were disclosed, and these men
were flogged and had their belongings confiscated and were paraded
through the City; they were then sent into exile. 2 Leo, magistros and
domestikos of the scholai , 3 was brought to the City, and he was paraded
through the market place sitting on a mule. 9 It was discovered that the
augusta Zoe had also been plotting against Romanos by means of poisoned
food, which had been prepared by Theokletos, the notarios of the
hypourgia , 4 And they remove her from the palace and bring her to the
Petrion 5 and make her into a nun in the monastery of St Euphemia.
10 Theodore, the emperor Constantine’s tutor, and Symeon, his brother,
were invited to dinner by Theophylaktos, the patrikios and komes of the
stables. While they were eating, John, the droungarios of the vigla, called
Kourkouas, entered with a lot of men and, on the pretext that they were

1 These places are in Bithynia.

2 This was in August 919.

3 I.e. Leo Phokas.

4 A secretary ( notarios ) to the staff ( hypourgia ) of the person responsible for the
emperor’s table (epi tes trapezes, for which cf. above, Chapter 132, § 13).

5 Part of the city at the Golden Horn.

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plotting against Romanos, had them [Theodore and Symeon] arrested and
sent into exile at their own country estates, in the Opsikion. 11 On the
twenty-fourth of the month of September, Romanos is honoured with the
rank of caesar, and in the month of December, on the seventeenth of the
month, on the Sunday of the Forefathers, 1 the emperor Constantine and the
patriarch Nicholas crown him with the imperial crown. And on January the
sixth, on the day of Holy Epiphany, Romanos himself crowns his wife,
Theodora. 2 12 In the month of May, on the seventeenth, in the fifth indiction,
Christopher, the son of Romanos, is proclaimed emperor. 3 He is crowned on
the twentieth of the same month, on the day of the Holy Pentecost, by the
emperor Constantine, and only these two took part in the procession on that
day. 13 In the month of July, in the eighth indiction, on a Sunday, the
unification of the Church is achieved by Romanos, and all the metropolitans
and clerics, who had refused to be in communion with the patriarch
Nicholas and with Euthymios, were reconciled. 4 14 On the eighth of the
month of February, in the ninth indiction, 5 Romanos sends a messenger and
has the magistros Stephen, the son of Kalomaria, exiled to the Antigonos
island on the charge of striving for the throne, and he had him tonsured,
together with Theophanes, the teichiotes, 6 and Paul, the orphanotrophos , 7
who were his men. 15 The emperor Romanos made a procession to the
tribounalion, 8 and everyone under arms was gathered there. Suddenly, after
the mustering of the troops, Romanos and Constantine return to the palace
in great haste; for a plot had been reported by Leo, one of Arsenios’ men,
hatched by this very Arsenios and Paulos, the manglabitai. These were
flogged and had their belongings confiscated and were sent into exile. The
paradynasteuon at that time was the presbyteros John, the rector. It was he
who made Leo, Arsenios’ man, a hebdomarios 9 and introduced him to the
emperor. 16 There was a certain Rentakios in Hellas at this time. A relative

1 I.e. the second Sunday before Christmas, when the forefathers of Christ are
remembered.

2 December-January 920-921.

3 17 May 921 (the year of the indiction is not correct here in the text).

4 I.e. the reconciliation after the ecclesiastical schism and controversy brought about by
Leo Vi’s fourth marriage. This took place in July 920.

5 8 February 921.

6 A guardian of a wall.

7 A person running an officially recognised orphanage.

8 I.e. the Kampos tou tribounaliou.

9 A palace official working under the papias (hebdomadarios according to some MSS).

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233

of the patrikios Niketas, he was an uneducated man and had taken to
violence against his father, whom he persecuted in order to kill him. His
father fled from the assault and embarked on a ship and sailed out and was
held in detention by the Cretans. This gave this Rentakios an opportunity,
and he purloined all his father’s possessions and, having travelled to the
City, took refuge in the Great Church of God. 1 On hearing of Rentakios’
disorderly behaviour and plundering, the emperor Romanos contrived to
have him driven out of the church and chastised. At this, Rentakios sent
false letters to the Bulgarians and claimed that he was willing to desert to
them. But he was apprehended and questioned and then deprived of his
eyes. 17 When, after the death of the domestikos Adralestos, the Bulgarians
again went out on an expedition and came as far as Katasyrtai, Pothos, of
the family of the Argyroi, was made domestikos of the scholai, and he went
out as far as Thermopolis 2 with the tagmata, and sent Michael, who was the
son of Moroleon and a topoteretes , 3 to spy on the Bulgarians. Without
having been spotted, Michael hit upon their unit and killed many of the
Bulgarians, but being wounded himself, he returned to the City and died
there. 18 A plot was then reported by Theokletos, the notarios of the
hypourgia. This was hatched by Anastasios, the sakellarios and head of the
goldsmiths, together with Theodoretos, the koitonites, and Demetrios, the
imperial notarios 4 of the idikon, 5 and Nicholas Koubatzes, and Theodotos,
the protokaravos. 6 These, it was said, were plotting on behalf of the emperor
Constantine; and, being discovered, they were flogged and paraded through
the Mese and then sent into exile. As far as Theodoretos is concerned, he
was flogged in private, in what is known as the Trikonchos of the palace,
and then sent into exile. The sakellarios Anastasios they tonsured in the
Monastery of Elegmoi, 7 and there he also died. Using this as a pretext,
Romanos demotes the emperor Constantine and makes him second in rank,

1 I.e. in St Sophia.

2 These movements took place in Thrace, Thermopolis (Aquae Calidae) being
present-day Burgas in Bulgaria.

3 A deputy commander of a military unit; cf. below, § 66, where it denotes a legate, i.e.
a representative of the pope.

4 The epithet ‘imperial’ is sometimes used to distinguish the bearer of the title from
someone’s private secretary.

5 The idikon (or eidikon, either derived from idios, ‘private,’ or eidos, ‘specimen/ware’)
seems to have been a storehouse of precious goods either belonging to the state treasury or
to the emperor personally.

6 A steersman directly under the captain on a warship.

7 InBithynia.

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and promotes himself to the foremost position. 1 19 Once more, Symeon
goes to war against the Romans, and he sends a host of Bulgarians together
with Kauchanos and Menikos and others, and he orders them to march
against the City as quickly as possible. 2 Having passed through the
mountains, these men came as far as Maglaba. On learning of their
approach, the emperor Romanos considers how to prevent them from
coming down to Pegai 3 and the Stenon and burning the palaces there. He
therefore sends out John the rector, together with Leo and Pothos, both
called Argyros. These were equipped with a sufficient number of men
from the imperial forces and the hetaireia and the tagmata. They were
also accompanied by Alexios Mousele, the patrikios and droungarios of
the fleet, and his people. This was in the fifth week of Lent. 20 When these
commanders had marshalled the men at their disposal in battle formation
in the plains and the lower terrain at Pegai, the Bulgarians appeared from
above fully armed and uttered a hideous and terrifying battle-cry and
charged against them with utmost savagery. At this, John the rector flees
at once, and Photeinos, the son of Platypodes, as well as many others, are
slaughtered fighting for him. John barely managed to escape and embarked
on a dromon. The droungarios Alexios Mousele also fled; being in full
armour, when he missed his footing as he mounted the gangway of the
dromon, he fell into the water and was drowned, together with his
protomandator* But the Argyroi saved themselves by fleeing to the
fortress. The rest took to the sea, and some were drowned while trying to
escape the hands of the enemy, and some fell victim to iron, 5 and some
were seized by Bulgarian hands and made prisoners. Since there was no
one to prevent them, the Bulgarians set fire to the palaces at Pegai, and
burnt the whole of the Stenon. All this proves what a fearful thing it is
when lack of reason and inexperience have rashness as their ally. 21 On
the twentieth of the month of February, in the tenth indiction, Theodora,
Romanos’ consort, dies. 6 Her body was put to rest in the house of this
same emperor Romanos, the house that had been made into a monastery

1 Perhaps in December 921.

2 In 923.

3 This should probably be Pege, at the Theodosian City walls.

4 The head of a group of special messengers serving a civil or military official of high
rank.

5 I.e. were killed by the sword.

6 This was 20 February 924, supposing that the indiction should be the twelfth (pace
Wortley 2010, p. 209, n. 26).

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235

by him. 1 In the same month, Sophia, the wife of the emperor Christopher,
is crowned. 2 22 At the same time, the kouropalates Iber arrived in the
City, and, making his way through the middle of the market place, which
had been embellished gloriously, he was received with great pomp and
honour. 3 They also brought him into the Church of the Holy Wisdom of
God, and he saw its beauty and size and costly adornments. For, in
preparation of his visit, they had embellished it and dressed it with curtains
of golden brocade and with all kinds of adornment. He was amazed by the
wondrous size of the church, and he expressed his very great admiration
at the costly adornments and said that this holy place in truth was God’s
dwelling. He then returned to his own country. 23 In the month of June, 4
the Bulgarians made another expedition and came as far as the palace of
St Theodora, which they consigned to the flames. 5 At this, the emperor
Romanos called the leaders of the tagmata together for a lunch meeting
(the man called Saktikes was also there), and he exhorted them and urged
them to go out against the enemy and fight for the sake of their country.
They willingly agreed to die for his rule and for the Christians. Thus, on
the following day, the afore-mentioned Saktikes, in arms given to him by
the emperor, demonstrated that his faith and courage were true. For,
making his way behind the Bulgarians and bursting into their camp, he
killed all the men that he found there. 24 On learning what had happened,
the Bulgarians return to their camp and, when battle is joined, they rout
Saktikes and the small group of men who accompanied him. He had
fought valiantly and had killed many, but could no longer resist the mass
of enemies, so he releases his horse’s bridle and gallops off at full speed.
As he crosses a river flowing nearby, his horse is stuck in the mud, and he
is wounded in his seat and thigh. With the help of the men at his disposal,
he barely manages to pull his horse out of the mud, and he gets safely to

1 I.e. in the church of the Myrelaion monastery, nowadays Bodrum camii where
Romanos himself was later buried (see Chapter 137, § 8, and cover of this volume). ’

2 I.e. she was given the title of augusta (senior empress), in order to be able to serve in
certain ceremonies that required a woman with this title (cf. above, Chapter 133, § 31, where
the need for an augusta is spelled out).

3 Or: ‘the Iberian,’ the ruler of Iberia in Georgia, given the title of kouropalates by the

Byzantines. In this case, it may actually have been (the Armenian) Asotios, mentioned in
Chapter 135, § 15, who arrived in the City and was given this title (cf. Wortley 2010 n 209
n. 28). ’

4 June 924.

5 At the innermost part of the Golden Horn.

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Blachernai. There he was put in the Church of the Holy Soros and, since
his wound was fatal, died during the night. 25 At that time, on the orders
of the emperor Romanos, the most honourable Petronas brought one
sarcophagus with figures and two without sculptural ornament from the
male monastery of St Mamas, the monastery close to what is known as the
Xylokerkos Gate. These are the sarcophagi in which it is said that Maurice
and his children were buried, and they were deposited in the emperor’s
monastery. 1 26 A certain Chaldean, called Hadrian, as well as Tatzates,
the Armenian, who was a very rich man, prepare a rebellion and plot
against the emperor Romanos, and they occupy the fortress called Paipert. 2
This they did on the instigation and advice of Bardas Boilas, who was a
strategos in Chaldea. The domestikos of the scholai, John Kourkouas,
fought them, and he apprehended some of them, of whom the more
prominent were blinded and had their belongings confiscated. Tatzates,
however, had managed to escape to another, very powerful, fortress and,
having received a guarantee that he would suffer no harm, returned to the
City and was honoured with the office of manglabites and lived under
surveillance in the complex of the Mangana. But, having planned an
escape, he is captured and deprived of his eyesight. The emperor took pity
on Bardas Boilas, since he was his friend, and he was tonsured. 27 Since
the patrikios called Moroleon, 3 who was the strategos of Adrianople and
very powerful and skilful at war, performed many valiant deeds against
the Bulgarians, the Bulgarian Symeon, together with all his army,
surrounded the afore-mentioned city and built a palisade around it and
subjected it to a harsh siege. When there was no more grain in the city and
a great famine weighed down on them (for they had no means of
resupplying the city, and were pressed by great need), the citizens
surrendered themselves, together with their strategos , to the Bulgarians.
On apprehending Moroleon, Symeon put chains all over his body and had
him punished with countless kinds of torture and, finally, put to death in a
terrible way, worthy of his [Symeon’s] most inhuman and cruel mind. He
then handed over the guarding of the city to Bulgarians and retreated.
However, these had heard that the Roman army was advancing on them,
so they left the city and departed; and the city came once again under

1 On Maurice and his fate, cf. above, Chapter 108, § 2. For the monastery see above,
§ 21 .

2 Or: ‘Paiper,’ in north-eastern Anatolia (present-day Bayburt).

3 ‘Mad Leo.’

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237

Roman control. 28 Leo of Tripolis 1 went out against the Romans with battle
ships and a great force. On reaching the island of Lemnos, he was suddenly
attacked by John, the patrikios and droungarios of the fleet, called Radinos.
When battle is joined, by God’s help, the Hagarenes under Leo’s command
are routed, and the Tripolitan alone flees and is saved, although with
difficulty. 29 In the month of September, in the second indiction, Symeon,
the ruler of Bulgaria, goes on an expedition against Constantinople with all
his forces, and he ravages Thrace and Macedonia, setting fire to everything
and pillaging and cutting down forests. 2 Coming as far as Blachernai, he
demanded that the patriarch Nicholas should be sent to him together with
some of the leading men, for he wanted to discuss a peace treaty with them.
There was a mutual exchange of hostages. The patriarch, Nicholas, was the
first to go out; then followed Michael the patrikios, who was called
Styppiotes, and John the mystikos and paradynasteuon. John the rector had
been slandered before the emperor and had excused himself with an illness
at this time, and had left the palace and been tonsured in his own monastery
close to Galakrenai. 30 Thus, these men began to discuss peace with
Symeon. But he sent them away and demanded to see the emperor Romanos
himself. For he had been informed by many about the emperor’s intelligence
and valour and good sense. The emperor was much elated by this, for he
longed for peace and an end to the daily bloodshed. 31 Therefore, he sent
people to the beach at Kosmidion and he had a very solid landing stage 3
constructed in the sea there, to which the imperial trireme could sail directly
and at which it could mQor. Having secured this landing stage on all sides,
he ordered a fence 4 to be erected in the middle of it, at which the leaders
could talk to each other. Symeon, in his turn, sent an expedition to burn
down the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, the one at Pege, 5 and all
land surrounding it. By this, it was obvious that he did not really want peace
but that he had high hopes of deceiving the emperor. 32 The emperor came
to Blachernai with the patriarch Nicholas, and he entered the Church of the
Holy Soros. There he held out his hands in prayer, and fell upon his face and

1 This is the well-known renegade (first mentioned above in Chapter 133, § 40) who,
after conversion, served different Muslim masters as a commander at sea. The present
episode, datable to 924, is the last time he is mentioned by the sources.

2 This was in 923.

3 Or: (so Wortley 2010, p. 212) ‘jetty’ (faroPaotv).

4 StarEixiopa.

5 This is the Church of St Mary of the Life-Giving Spring (Zoodochos Pege) outside the
City walls of Constantinople.

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sprinkled the holy ground with tears, beseeching the all-undefiled Mother
of God to soften the unyielding and pitiless heart of the proud Symeon and
persuade him to agree upon a peace treaty. So, having opened the holy
casket, in which the revered omophorion 1 of the holy Mother of God was
being treasured, the emperor took it out, and, wearing it as an impenetrable
breast-plate, and surrounding himself with faith in the blameless Mother of
God as with a kind of helmet, he went out from the church, armed with
unfailing weapons. 33 Having adorned his force with shields and weapons,
he arrived at the agreed meeting place, for the discussion with Symeon. It
was on a Thursday that this happened, November the ninth. 2 At the fourth
hour of the day Symeon arrived, 3 bringing an immeasurable crowd, divided
into many formations: some with golden shields and golden spears, others
with silver shields and silver spears, and others adorned with every kind of
weaponry, all of them wearing heavy iron armour. These took up a position
in the middle, 4 and they hailed Symeon as emperor in the language of the
Romans. 5 All the members of the Senate stood on the walls and watched the
proceedings. One could now see a truly imperial and high-minded
disposition, and one had to admire the emperor’s 6 fearlessness and great
valour and how, although seeing such a throng of enemies, he was not
frightened nor reduced to fear and did not retreat. Instead, he went as if he
were going into a group of friends—so fearlessly did he go, almost offering
his life to the enemy in order to save his subjects. 34 The emperor arrived
first at the said landing stage, and he waited there for Symeon. When
hostages had been taken on both sides, and the Bulgarians had checked the
landing stage carefully, lest there should be some cheating or ambush,
Symeon dismounted and went forward to the emperor. They greeted each
other and started to talk about peace. 35 The emperor is reported as having
said the following to Symeon: ‘I have heard that you are a God-fearing man
and a true Christian. 7 But I see that your deeds do not in any way agree with

1 Cf. Chapter 131, § 30, where Michael III employs the same robe, or veil, of the Virgin
to chase the Russians away.

2 9 November 924.

3 However, he did not yet go onto the landing stage where the meeting was to be held (see
below).

4 ‘in the middle’ (p£oov aviroiv): this is somewhat unclear.

5 I.e. in Greek.

6 I.e. of Romanos.

7 There are certain similarities between this speech and that of Nikephoros I in front of
the Abbasid caliph (see above. Chapter 125, § 6).

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239

these reports. For a God-fearing man, and a Christian, is bound to cherish
peace and love (for indeed God is, and is called, love). Instead, it is the way
of an impious and unbelieving man to take pleasure in murders and in the
unrighteous shedding of blood. So, if you are a true Christian, as we have
been informed, make an end to the unjust killings and the unrighteous
shedding of blood, and make peace with us, who are Christians, being, and
being called, a Christian yourself, and do not allow your hands to be stained
with the blood of fellow Christians. 36 You, too, are human, and you await
death and resurrection and judgement and retribution. Today you exist, and
tomorrow you will be dissolved into dust. One fever can quench all your
wanton behaviour. What excuse for the unrighteous murders can you give
to God when you appear before Him? How will you be able to face the
formidable and just judge? If you do this out of love of riches, I will fill you
to excess with what you long for. Just raise your right hand, agree to the
peace, and declare yourself satisfied with the accord. Then you, too, can
live a peaceful life, without bloodshed and worries, and there will be an end
to the misfortunes of the Christians, and they will stop killing each other.
For it is not right that they should take arms against their brethren in the
faith.’ 37 Having said this, the emperor fell silent. Symeon felt awe because
of the emperor’s humility and because of the speech he had given, and he
agreed to make peace. They thereupon embraced each other and separated,
the emperor giving magnificent gifts to Symeon. Now I will tell what
happened next—something portentous, which baffled even those
experienced in interpreting such phenomena. They say that, while the
emperors were talking to each other, two eagles flew over them, screaming
and clashing into each other and immediately separating from each other,
and that one of the eagles went on towards the City, while the other flew
towards Thrace. The experts in this kind of phenomena were of the opinion
that it was not a good omen. For they said that it meant that the rulers would
part without having reached a true peace agreement. On returning to his
camp, Symeon told his commanders about the emperor’s good sense and
humility, and he praised his good looks and his strength and his fearless
mind. 38 In the month of December, on the twenty-fifth, Romanos crowned
his sons Stephen and Constantine in the Great Church. 1 So too his son
Theophylaktos, a eunuch, was tonsured and made a cleric by the patriarch
Nicholas, and ordained hypodiakonos 2 and appointed synkellos by the

1 This was in 923 or, possibly, 924.

2 I.e. sub-deacon.

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patriarch; earlier, he had walked among the hypodiakonoi 1 at holy
ceremonies. 39 In the month of April, on the nineteenth of the month,
Romanos honoured John, the mystikos and paradynasteuon, with the titles
of patrikios and anthypatos 2 and for that reason envy was engendered
against this man and some people brought accusations against him. 3 40 On
the fifteenth of the month of May, in the thirteenth indiction, the patriarch
Nicholas dies after having been patriarch for a second period which lasted
thirteen years, and his body was put to rest in the monastery built by him at
Galakrenai. 4 41 In the month of August, Stephen, the metropolitan of
Amaseia, a eunuch, is made patriarch. 42 In the month of October the
mystikos and paradynasteuon John was accused of coveting the throne, 5 at
the instigation of Kosmas, the patrikios and logothetes tou dromou, who
had given him his daughter for a wife. Because of this, John is removed
from the palace, but he is then allowed to come into the emperor’s presence
again and serve him and conduct some necessary business with him. For
the emperor Romanos had the greatest affection for this man, who served
him in everything, and he did not want to reject him completely. However,
as the accusers pressed the emperor and gave convincing proof of the truth
of the accusations, the emperor conducted an investigation and, having
understood that the accusations were true, decided to have the man
apprehended and questioned. On learning what is coming, John takes flight
and comes to the so-called Monokastanos monastery, 6 where he is tonsured.
43 Constantine, the son of Boilas, the emperor’s table-mate and friend, also
fled and, having come to Mount Olympos, 7 he dresses in monastic habit.
For he too was afraid, since he was a confidant of the mystikos and was
informed about matters of a secret nature. The emperor had the patrikios
Kosmas flogged at the Horologion in the palace, and appointed a successor.
In the place of the mystikos John, the emperor promotes the protovestiarios
Theophanes to the office of paradynasteuon. 44 At this time, there was also
a terrible earthquake in the thema of Thrakesion, and the earth opened in a
great and terrible chasm, so that many villages and churches were swallowed

1 Greek sv to) tflv ujtoStaicdvwv x&Ypcm (tagma not being used in a technical sense).

2 The title of cmthypatos (proconsul) is only used here in this text. It is probably only an
honorary title at this time and does not entail any function.

3 19 April 925.

4 15 May 925; Nicholas’ second period as patriarch lasted 912-925.

5 This was still in 925.

6 In Bithynia.

7 This is the Bithynian Olympus, present-day Uludag.

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241

up in it with men and all. 1 45 In the month of May, on the twenty-seventh,
in the fifteenth indiction, Symeon, the ruler of the Bulgarians, died after
having made his son, Peter, ruler. 2 Peter was his son by his second wife, the
sister of George Soursouboulis, whom Symeon had also left as guardian of
his children. Symeon had made Michael, who was born from his first wife,
a monk. John and Benjamin, Peter’s brothers, were still wearing Bulgarian
dress. 3 46 On learning of Symeon’s death, the surrounding peoples, such as
the Croatians and others, decided to go to war against the Bulgarians. Now,
since a very great famine, combined with an invasion of locusts, oppressed
the Bulgarian people severely, they feared the onslaught of the other
peoples, but most of all they feared the coming of the Romans. Therefore,
they decide to go to war against the Romans, and they go to Macedonia in
order, as is reasonable to suppose, to instil fear into the Romans. 47 Then,
on learning that the emperor Romanos was about to go to war against them,
Peter and George send a monk called Kalokyris, whose family came from
the Armeniakon theme, on a secret mission, carrying a chrysobull. He
spoke of what was written in it, namely that the Bulgarians would welcome
a peace with the Romans and that they were eager to sign a treaty. And not
only this: if the Romans should want this, they would even be willing to
agree on a marriage contract. The emperor received this monk with the
greatest pleasure, and at once sent the monk Theodosios Aboukes, together
with the cleric Basil the Rhodian, on a dromon to Mesembria to conduct
peace talks with the Bulgarians. After arrival, these men had the appropriate
conversations and then sej out over land with Stephen the Bulgarian. After
them came also George Soursouboulis, and they arrived in Constantinople
and concluded the peace and demanded that a [marriage] contract should be
worked out with the emperor. 48 Having seen Mary, the daughter of the
emperor Christopher, and been delighted by her, the Bulgarian envoys wrote
to Peter to come as quickly as possible, having, even before this, worked out
the agreement on the peace. Niketas, the magistros, a relative 4 of Romanos
the emperor, was sent to meet Peter and bring him to the City. When Peter
the Bulgarian approached, the emperor Romanos embarked on a trireme
and travelled to Blachernai. There he watched Peter’s arrival, and he greeted
him with an embrace. When they had finished the appropriate negotiations,

1 This earthquake cannot be independently dated.

2 This was in 927.

3 An interesting piece of ethnographic information.

4 ai)p7tE(v)0F.p6c

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the peace treaty and the marriage contract are signed. During these negoti¬
ations, the protovestiarios Theophanes acted as a go-between and monitored
the discussions between the Romans and the Bulgarians in a sensible way.
49 On the eighth of the month of October, the patriarch Stephen went out
together with Theophanes the protovestiarios and Mary, the daughter of the
emperor Christopher, as well as with all the Senate. 1 They went to the
Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, the one at Pege, 2 and the patriarch
blessed Peter and Mary and placed the marriage crowns on their heads,
while Theophanes the protovestiarios and George Soursouboulis acted as
witnesses. Then a glorious and costly banquet was held, and all the customary
marriage rites were performed in a spectacular manner, whereupon
Theophanes the protovestiarios entered the City together with Mary, the
daughter of the emperor Christopher. On the third day of the wedding, the
emperor Romanos gave a splendid feast at the landing stage at Pegai, 3 which
was decorated with silk fabric. The imperial dromon was moored at the
landing stage, and on this Romanos dined together with Peter the Bulgarian
and Constantine, his son-in-law, and Christopher, his son. 50 The Bulgarians
insisted firmly that Christopher should be hailed first and then Constantine,
and the emperor Romanos gave in to their insistence, and so it happened as
they had requested. 51 Everything pertaining to the marriage had now been
fulfilled, and Mary was about to take the road to Bulgaria with her husband,
Peter. Her parents, together with the protovestiarios, Theophanes,
accompanied her as far as Hebdomon and dined there together with Peter.
When the hour of departure came, they embraced their daughter while
shedding many tears—as is reasonable when one is deprived of one’s
beloved offspring. They said farewell to their son-in-law and committed
Mary into his hands and returned to the palace. On being handed into
Bulgarian hands, Mary travelled the road towards Bulgaria. She was at the
same time both glad and sad: sad for being deprived of her dearest parents
and the imperial dwelling and contact with her kin; glad because she had
been joined to a man of royal birth and been named queen of the Bulgarians. 4
She now departed, bringing all kinds of wealth with her and an endless

1 This was 8 October 927.

2 Here, too, the Church of the Zoodochos Pege in Constantinople (cf. above, § 31).

3 The landing stage at Kosmidion (near Pege) at which Peter’s father Symeon had met
Romanos (cf. above, § 31)? If so, here, too, Pegai (at the southern shore of Marmara Sea) and
Pege (more conveniently placed for anyone about to travel to Bulgaria) are confused.

4 The phrases describing the girl’s feelings, with their antithetical expressions, smack of
rhetorical exercise.

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243

baggage train. 52 It was also at this time that ambassadors from Melitene
came to the emperor Romanos, and they offered to agree upon peace and to
offer tribute. Shortly after this, Abu-Hafs, the descendant of Amer and emir
of Melitene, came together with Apolasath, who was a most noble strategos
and a man of wealth in Melitene. Romanos received these with an appropriate
show of honour and, when a peace treaty had been concluded, they returned
to their country. From this time on, the people from Melitene went on
military expeditions with the Romans against their Hagarene kinsmen, and
in the victory processions they went with the Romans into the City, and led
Hagarene prisoners in the processions—a sign of the godless Hagarenes’
misfortune and a fact which caused some wonder and seemed strange.
53 On the death of Abu-Hafs, who had been a prudent and intelligent man,
the inhabitants of Melitene rescinded the peace. 1 Therefore, the domestikos
of the scholai, John Kourkouas, with the themata and the tagmata, and
Melias with the Armenians, go to war against them and gather much booty
on several occasions, and take prisoners from them in constant raids, and
pillage them, and by this they reduced Melitene to such weakness that it
could soon be destroyed and razed to the ground. But not only this: they
also destroyed the neighbouring cities and land, which bore abundant crops
and was very fertile and provided much income. Melitene itself the emperor
made into a kouratoria, 2 and he arranged that many thousands [of litrai] 3 in
gold and silver should be paid yearly from there as a tribute. 54 Niketas,
who was a magistros and the father-in-law of the emperor Christopher, was
accused of having suggested to Christopher that he should turn against his
own father and remove him from the throne. Because of this, Niketas was
removed from the City and tonsured and confined to his country estate.
55 On the eighteenth of the month of July, in the sixth indiction, Stephen,
the patriarch, dies, having served as patriarch for two years and eleven
months. 56 On the fourteenth of the month of December, they bring in the
monk Tryphon, who lived the life of a hermit in the Opsikion and who bore
witness to his faith in piety and holiness, and they ordain him patriarch for
a fixed period of time, until Theophylaktos, the son of the emperor
Romanos, should come of age; for they intended to ordain him patriarch of

1 These occurrences date from 931 and onwards. The final capture of Melitene took
place 19 May 934.

2 A kind of imperial estate.

3 The unity is not specified in the text, and ‘litrai’ is added by me.

4 He actually served 29 June 925-18 July 927. The indiction is wrong: the sixth year
would correspond with 933.

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THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

245

Constantinople. 57 On the twenty-fifth of the same month, 1 unbearable
winter weather came, and the earth froze for 120 days. This also resulted in
a great famine, which exceeded all earlier ones, and many people died
because of this—so many that the living could not carry away the dead.
On 2 being made aware of this catastrophe, the emperor Romanos performed
deeds worthy of his sympathetic and merciful nature. He comforted the
need arising from the famine by many charitable donations, and he covered
the porticoes 3 with boards and planks, so that the snow and the cold should
not enter that way to the poor. At this time, he also had built what are
known as arklai 4 in all the porticoes, and he arranged that money should be
paid on a monthly basis to the poor who lay there and that the monthly
trimisia 5 should be distributed to the poor in the churches. Thus, the sum
given to the poor, in the arklai and in the churches, amounted to 12,000
[litrai] 6 in minted silver. 58 This was not all that his sympathetic soul
arranged in his care for the poor. He also decided that three poor people
should dine with him every day and that they should receive one solidus
each. On Tuesdays and Fridays, three poor monks dined with him, and
each of them received the prescribed sum of money. He also adopted the
custom of monasteries, namely that someone should read aloud during
meals, thus offering a double table to himself and his guests, since the body
was nourished by ordinary food, but the soul could delight at the suitable
enjoyment of the words. And he paid close attention to these words and felt
compunction in his soul and shed fountains of tears. 59 Who could describe
the faith that he had in all monks, but especially those famous for their
holiness and their piety? For he never saw a monk who cared for virtue
without telling him with many tears about his own actions. Being a most
ardent and orthodox believer, he embellished and brightened all the
churches of the City in a glorious way with spectacular vestments and

1 This was on Christmas Day 927.

2 From this point, until the end of § 59, the text shows signs of being a kind of
hagiographic enkomion on Romanos.

3 No doubt of official buildings in C/ple and, possibly, other cities.

4 Perhaps a kind of container; see O. Kresten, ‘Arklai und trimisia. Lexikalisches zu
den sozialen Maflnahmen des Kaisers Rhomanos I. Lakapenos im >Katastrophenwinter<
927/928,’ Anzeiger der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Osterreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften 137 (2002), pp. 35-52.

5 The trimis(s)is (or tremissis) was a third of a gold solidus. The definite article would
seem to suggest that the custom in question is known to the reader, presumably because it is
still in force at the time of writing.

6 The unity is not specified in the text, and ‘ litrai' is added by me.

illuminations. 1 Further, he never stopped sending yearly contributions to
the monks living in mountains, such as Mount Olympos and Kymina and
what is known as the Golden Cliff and the Barachaios mountain, and he
was concerned for them and took care of them, and those of them who were
renowned for their deeds and contemplation he summoned to his presence,
and reaped the benefit of their prayers. And this was not all: he did not stop
providing the yearly payment, which he had decreed, to individuals who
were living enclosed lives for the sake of God and who had shut themselves
up in very small dwellings, as well as to all monasteries. These we have
mentioned as some few examples of his countless moral achievements and
acts of mercy. 60 Peter the Bulgarian was attacked by his brother John, who
was acting together with other of Symeon’s leading men. On being
discovered, John is beaten and put into prison, whereas the others are
subjected to no mean punishment. When Peter informed the emperor
Romanos about this, the emperor sent the monk John, who had been a
rector, to him, on the pretext that they should make an exchange of prisoners,
but in truth to get hold of John and bring him to Constantinople. This indeed
happened. For he [the monk John] arrived from Mesembria with [the
Bulgarian prince] John on a ship and entered the City, and shortly afterwards
[the Bulgarian prince?] 2 John threw away his monastic habit and asked for
a wife, and the emperor gave him a house and great wealth and a wife who
stemmed from Romanos’ very own home region of Armeniakon, and he
arranged a splendid wedding in the house of the caesar, and the emperor
Christopher and John the,monk (he who had been a rector) acted as
witnesses. 61 In the month of March, on the second day, an architrave, set
on the row of pillars standing in the Forum, fell down and killed six men. 3
There was also a great and terrible fire in the portico outside the Forum,
close to the Church of the most Holy Mother of God, and the candle factories
and fur shops of the Forum were burnt down as far as Psichai. 62 In the
month of August, in the fourth indiction, the emperor Christopher died. 4
His father mourned him deeply and said that he had already reached old
age, yet his [still living] sons were still babes. And Christopher’s body was
laid to rest in the afore-mentioned monastery belonging to his father. 63 In

1 ‘illuminations’: Greek cpcoTaycoyiai^.

2 The confusion in this passage is due to the fact that the monk and the Bulgarian prince
carried the same name. Apparently both the prince and the monk travelled in monastic garb.
The clarifying additions in square brackets are mine.

3 2 March 928.

4 August 931.

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the month of August, in the third indiction, 1 they also removed Tryphon,
the patriarch, from the throne, since he had accomplished the period agreed
upon, and he withdraws to his own monastery and dies there. The Church
remained without a leader for one year and five months, since Theophylaktos,
the son of the emperor Romanos, had not yet come of age. For, as has been
said, it was Theophalyktos whom Romanos intended to make patriarch.

64 A certain Basil from Macedonia, an impostor, spread a rumour that he
was Constantine Doukas, and attracted many followers. 2 He was
apprehended by Elephantinos the tourmarches, who was from Opsikion,
and brought to Constantinople where Peter the hyparchos had his hand
cut off. However, after this, when an opportunity presented itself once
more, Basil goes to 3 Opsikion again, and he fitted a copper hand onto his
arm in the place of the one which had been cut off, and he had an unusually
big sword made for him, and he went around and fooled many of the
people he met into believing that he was Constantine, the son of Doukas.

65 He also makes these people follow him, and starts a great rebellion
against Romanos and, having occupied a fortress called Plateia Petra, he
deposited every kind of foodstuff in it. Using this as his base, he ravaged
the countryside and took hostage passers-by. In response to this, the
emperor sent an army against him and had him and his men captured.
And they brought him into the City and examined his case and had him
severely beaten to compel him to tell the names of his fellow-conspirators.
But he denounced many of those in high office falsely, saying that they
had been with him. When it was found out that he had nothing true to say
against these, he was committed to the fires in the Amastrianos. 66 The
afore-mentioned Theophylaktos, son of the emperor, is ordained patriarch
on the second of February, in the sixth indiction, and representatives 4
came from Rome and brought a synodical tome 5 confirming his
ordination. 6 These representatives also placed him on the patriarchal
throne. 67 The afore-mentioned granddaughter of the emperor Romanos,
Mary, the wife of Peter the Bulgarian, often came to the City to visit her

1 Also August 931 (although the indiction is wrong, cf. preceding paragraph).

2 The uprising of Basil the Macedonian, the ‘Copper-Hand,’ took place in 932 or
thereabouts.

3 ‘goes to’ (KortaXapP&vei): or ‘conquers.’

4 TOTtoTTipqTaC (cf. above, § 17, where it is used in a technical sense denoting a military
commander).

5 I.e. a kind of papal bull.

6 2 February 933.

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247

father and her grandfather. On the last such occasion, when her father
Christopher was already dead, she came with three children. And she
received great riches from her grandfather and returned in honour.
68 Romanos, the emperor, brought a wife to his son Stephen. She was the
daughter of Gabalas, and the granddaughter of Katakylas, and her name
was Anna. Together with the marriage crown, the imperial crown was
also set on Stephen’s head. 1 69 In the seventh indiction, in the month of
April, the first expedition of the Turks against the Romans took place. 2
These overran the country as far as the City and carried off all the
inhabitants of Thrace. The patrikios Theophanes, the protovestiarios and
paradynasteuon, was sent to negotiate an exchange of prisoners with
them. He approached them in an admirable and sensible way and achieved
what he wanted, and he was much commended and admired by them for
his intelligence and good will. On this occasion, the emperor Romanos
also showed his magnanimity and philanthropy by not sparing any
expense to set the prisoners free. 70 The emperor Romanos brought a
wife to his youngest son, Constantine. 3 She was from a family of the
Armeniakon thema, and her name was Helen, and she was the daughter of
the patrikios Hadrian. When she died in the month of February, in the
second indiction, 4 Romanos united Constantine with another woman, by
the name of Theophano, 5 who belonged to the family of that Mamas. 6
71 In the month of June, on the eleventh day of the month, in the fourteenth
indiction, the Russians sailed down upon Constantinople with 10,000
ships. 7 The patrikios Thepphanes, the one who was a paradynasteuon and
a protovestiarios, was sent against them with all the triremes and
dromones available in the City and, having prepared and made ready his
naval expedition and fortified himself as much as possible through fasting
and tears, he confronted the Russians, intending to defeat them in a naval
battle. 72 When the Russians arrived and came close to the Pharos, 8
Theophanes, who lay in waiting at the mouth of the Black Sea, attacked

1 August 931.

2 April 934. The Turks mentioned are Magyars.

3 They married perhaps 14 January 938.

4 February 944.

5 Or: ‘Theophanu.’

6 ‘that Mamas’ (too Mtipa itcetvou): the expression implies that this was a family of
significance or, at least, that it should be familiar to the reader.

7 11 June 941. For fuller commentary on this episode see Wortley 2010, p. 221f.

8 Or: ‘Lighthouse’ (at the entrance into the Bosporos from the Black Sea).

248

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

249

them in full force at the place called Hieron. He, in his own dromon, was
the first to sail through the Russian lines, and he disturbed their lines and
burnt a great many of their ships with Greek fire, 1 and the rest he put to
flight. The remaining dromones as well as the triremes followed him and
went forward and completed the rout, and many of the Russian ships sank
with all hands, while many Russians were [mortally] wounded, but most
of them were taken alive. The rest of them sail to the eastern shore, to the
place called Sgora. 73 At this time, Bardas Phokas was also sent over land
with an elite cavalry unit to intercept 2 the Russians. For the Russians had
sent a rather considerable detachment to Bithynia in order to satisfy their
need for food and other commodities, and the afore-mentioned Bardas
Phokas met this force and attacked the men violently, routing and slaugh¬
tering them. 74 At this moment, John Kourkouas, the magistros and
domestikos of the scholai, also came down together with the whole army
of the East, and he annihilated many of the Russians, even catching stray
soldiers here and there. This reduced the Russians to such fear of his
attack that they remained gathered together in one place alongside their
ships and did not dare to make raids in any direction. However, before the
arrival of the Roman forces, they had performed many most evil actions:
they had burnt the whole of what is called the Stenon, and of the prisoners
they took some they impaled and some they pinned to the ground and yet
others they used as targets and shot at them with bows. Every member of
the clergy they apprehended had his hands tied behind his back and iron
nails driven through his head. The Russians also burnt many holy
churches. 75 When winter was imminent, the Russians, who lacked food
and who feared the Roman forces that were coming against them, and
even more the battle triremes, decided to return home and, trying to
escape the notice of the Roman fleet, they set sail at night for the Thracian
regions of the empire; this was in September, in the fifteenth indiction. 3
During this manoeuvre, they encountered the afore-mentioned patrikios
Theophanes, for they did not escape the notice of this most vigilant and
noble soul. At once, another sea battle is joined, and the afore-mentioned
man sank very many ships and killed many men. A few, however, survived
with their ships and were stranded upon the shore at Koile and managed
to escape since night fell. Theophanes the patrikios returned to the capital

1 Here ‘prepared fire’ (saKEuaaptvw jtupt).

2 Or: ‘run parallel with’ (TtaparpSysiv).

3 September 943.

with a great victory and with very great spoils, and was received with
honour and great glory and given the title of parakoimomenos. 76 The
afore-mentioned John Kourkouas, the magistros, had proved most able in
war and had won many battles and had extended the Roman frontier and
destroyed very many cities of the Hagarenes. Because of the man’s
obvious qualities, the emperor Romanos wanted to offer John’s daughter
as wife to his grandson Romanos, the son of his son Constantine. This,
however, led to envy against him [Constantine] from the other emperors,
and he [John] is ousted from office. In his place, the patrikios Pantherios,
a relative of the emperor Romanos, is made domestikos. 77 In the month
of April, in the first indiction, the Turks attacked once again with very
great force. 1 The patrikios Theophanes, the parakoimomenos, went out
and made a truce with them, bringing some noblemen with him as
hostages. This led to peace, which lasted for five years. 78 In the second
indiction, the emperor Romanos sent Paschalios, the protospatharios and
strategos in Lombardy, 2 to the king of France, Hugo, asking for Hugo’s
daughter as bride for Romanos, 3 the son of his son-in-law Constantine. The
said Paschalios received her together with great wealth, and brought her to
the City. The wedding was celebrated in the month of September, in the
third indiction. 4 She died in the days of the sole rule of Constantine, her
father-in-law, having lived with her husband for five years. 79 A violent and
impetuous storm blew in the month of December, and what are known as
the Demes 5 in the hippodrome fell down (these were opposite the imperial
throne), and crushed the steps on which they were based and what are called
the balustrades. 6 In the next year, in the same month, the emperor Romanos
was brought down from the palace. 7 80 When the city of Edessa, in which
the revered image of Christ was preserved, was besieged by the Roman
army and the city had been reduced to the greatest need, its inhabitants sent
messengers to the emperor Romanos to negotiate the lifting of the siege,
promising to hand over Christ’s holy image. In return for doing so, they
demanded hostages taken from the nobility and to receive a chrysobull

1 This, too, was in 943.

2 ‘Lombardy’: i.e. from the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy.

3 This is the future Romanos II (main ruler 959-963), who married Bertha (Eudokia),
daughter of Hugo of Provence, king of Italy.

4 September 945.

5 Probably the sections of the hippodrome reserved for the factions.

6 atr|06a.

7 This was in December 944.

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guaranteeing that their land should not be ravaged any more by the army of
the Romans. This indeed happened. 1 81 When the holy image had been sent
and was already approaching Constantinople, Theophanes, the patrikios
and parakoimomenos, went out to the Sagaros river and met it with a
splendid procession with torches and the appropriate signs of honour and
the singing of hymns. On the fifteenth of August he entered the City with it,
while the emperor was at Blachernai and worshipped it there. On the
following day, the emperor’s two sons, Stephen and Constantine, and his
son-in-law, Constantine, together with the patriarch, Theophylaktos, went
to the Golden Gate, and with an appropriate display of honour they received
the image, and the Senate marched in front of them, and a very great
procession with torches preceded them and they brought it on foot to the
Church of the Holy Wisdom of God and, after it had been venerated there,
it was brought to the palace. 82 In these days, an Armenian portent visited
the City. It was a case of male children grown together, having come from
one womb. They were fully grown with regard to all limbs of the body, but
from the navel to the parts below the stomach they were fused together,
facing each other. Living for a very long time in the City and being looked
upon by everyone as portentous in some way, they were ultimately driven
out as a bad omen. However, during the sole rule of Constantine they came
to the City again and, when one of them died, some experienced doctors
skilfully cut away the attached part hoping that the other one would live. He
survived for three days and then died. 83 And, as has been said above, in all
matters the emperor had boundless faith in monks. He especially honoured
and revered Sergios, who shone among the monks. He was the brother of
the magistros Kosmas, and the [grand-]nephew of the patriarch Photios. It
was the nobility of soul that brought honour to this man rather than his
physical valour. For he had brought virtue and knowledge to such an
extreme that it was difficult to decide in which he excelled most: to such a
high level he had trained himself in both. On him bloomed, apart from
other advantages, the flush of modesty 2 and the charm of his character and
his balanced mind. For he did not raise the eyebrows in the way of the wise
men of our days. Nor did he seem pretentious or proud, but his speech

1 I.e. that the Byzantines left the city in peace thereupon (at least for the time being:
it was captured in 1031 by the general George Maniakes, after the present text had been
finished). For this episode cf. Wortley 2010, p. 224.

2 ‘flush of modesty’ (x6 xfj<; SiaxpiaeoK SpcuOoq): I take this as close to Modern Greek

diaKpitiKog.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

251

flowed sweeter than honey, 1 and his character was firm and stable, whereas
he was humble of mind. This glorious man 2 the emperor always had with
him, and he was a rule and a measuring-line, always regulating Romanos’
life. This man entreated Romanos to take care of his children and not to
leave them without an education, lest they should turn to evil and he, too,
should suffer the same as Eli and have to pay for his children’s lawlessness 3 —
which is what happened. However, when his children removed him from
the palace and exiled him to the island of Prote, Romanos again had Sergios
to console him for his misfortunes and as his pain-allaying remedy against
his sorrows. Together with him was at that time also Polyeuktos, who was
a most pious monk and who also offered appropriate solace. It is he who is
appointed patriarch by the emperor Constantine when the patriarch
Theophylaktos dies. 4 84 Since God wants to save man by many different
methods, He allowed that also the emperor Romanos should meet with an
unexpected disaster, so that he should be chastened by this and become
aware of his own transgressions and be worthy of salvation. Thus, God
allowed Romanos’ son, Stephen, to rise against him as once Absalom rose
against his father David. 5 As counsellors for this, Stephen used Marianos
and Basil, called Peteinos, from among the monks, as well as Manuel
Kourtikes. With the other emperors complicit in the plot, Stephen removed
Romanos from the palace against his will and exiled him to the island of
Prote and had him tonsured. 6

137 The Sovereign Rule of Constantine

Thus his son-in-law, Constantine, was left as main ruler. 7 2 At once,
Constantine honours Bardas, son of Phokas, with the office of magistros,
as a person who, over a long period of time and on many occasions, had

1 ‘his speech ... honey’: this is an allusion to Iliad 1.249.

2 Greek dolSipoi;: this, too, is arguably reminiscent of Homer to a Byzantine, although
it is actually not Homeric.

3 The story of Eli and his lawless sons is told in 1 Samuel 2.12f.

4 Theophylaktos died in 956. Accordingly, this is a reference forward in time, to a date
after the end of the text.

5 On Absalom (or Abes(s)alom), who rebelled against his father. King David, but
ultimately failed and was killed, see 2 Samuel.

6 Romanos was dethroned in December 944.

7 Cf. to this chapter Skylitzes (Wortley 2010, pp. 225-228), and Ps.-Symeon 753.1-754.18.

252

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

displayed courage in war; and he makes him domestikos of the scholai.
He then made Basil, with the by-name Peteinos, patrikios and megas
hetaireiarches. Marianos, of the family of the Argyroi, he stripped of his
monastic robes and made him a patrikios and a komes of the stables. He
also made Manuel, called Kourtikes, patrikios and droungarios of the
vigla. 3 Not long after, God’s righteous judgement came to these, since they
had committed an outrage against the anointed of the Lord and unright¬
eously laid hands upon him and coveted the throne. For each of them was
convicted of high treason and died a most pitiable death. I will tell their story
in more detail in the following. 1 4 Forty days later, on the twenty-seventh
of the month of January, Constantine came to suspect the emperor Stephen
and his brother Constantine, lest they should do the same to him [as they
had done to their father], and, as was reasonable, he thought that if they
did not spare their own father, why should they spare him? 2 He therefore
invited them to dinner and, when they were already sitting at the table and
the food was in their mouths, the so-called Tornikoi 3 and Marianos, the
patrikios, as well as other men prepared to do so, apprehended them and
brought them down from the palace and confined them to the neighbouring
islands and tonsured them as clerics. 5 After a short time, Stephen and
Constantine Lekapenos asked to see their father, and they came to the
island of Prote and, when they saw him in the garb of a monk, they were
seized by unbearable sorrow. And their father added his tears to theirs, and
said: ‘I fathered sons and I raised them, but they rejected me.’ 4 Thereupon,
the sons were exiled, Stephen to Proikonnesos, and from Proikonnesos to
Rhodes, and from Rhodes to Mytilene; Constantine to Tenedos, and from
there to Samothrace, where he was killed by his warders when he was
planning a rebellion. Michael, the son of the emperor Christopher, was
stripped of his imperial sandals and made into a cleric. 6 While the emperor
Romanos was in the island, the patriarch Theophylaktos and Theophanes,
the patrikios and parakoimomenos, made a plan to reinstall him in the
palace. 5 They even informed him of this and lured him so as to agree, and
they watched out for an appropriate moment to put their plan into action.
But, as the plan was disclosed and the emperor Constantine was told about

1 To this compare the excursuses above (e.g. Chapter 132, § 2), telling about the awful
death of persecutors. However, the promise to tell this story is not fulfilled in this text.

2 The sons of Romanos were ousted by Constantine VII27 January 945.

3 Or: ‘Tornikioi,’ a well-known family clan.

4 Isaiah 1.2.

5 This attempt at reinstating Romanos may have taken place in 946.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

253

it, he took revenge on those who had part in it. He exiled the patrikios
Theophanes. The protospatharios George, who was also a pinkernes ,' and
Thomas the primmikerios 2 he had flogged and tonsured, and he paraded
them through the City and then sent them into exile. 7 In the month of
December, in the sixth indiction, some people attempted a coup against the
emperor Constantine, for they wanted to bring the emperor Stephen back
from the island to the palace. 3 When this plan was disclosed to Constantine
by Michael, called Diabolinos, the emperor apprehended the rebels and
had the noses and ears of some of them cut off, while he subjected others
to unbearable beating. He then put them on donkeys and paraded them
through the City and sent them into exile. 8 On the fifteenth of June, in the
sixth indiction, the emperor Romanos dies on the island of Prote, and his
body is brought to the City and laid to rest in his monastery. 4

1 ‘cupbearer’: eunuch waiting at the imperial table.

2 The functions of this Thomas are uncertain; for the title, cf. Chapter 136, § 2.

3 This attempt at yet another coup took place in December 947.

4 Romanos died 15 July (or June) 948. His body was laid to rest in the comparatively
modest environment of the family’s own Myrelaion monastery, where, among others, his
wife had already been buried (see above, Chapter 136, § 21, and cover of this volume).

INDEX OF NAMES

255

INDEX OF NAMES

Aaron biblical person 34.7
Aaron Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid
caliph 123.8, 124.5
Abalbakes (Abbakes) the Old
Abu-Bakr, Arab 133.58
Abdioum (Abdiou) biblical person
42.3,44.7

Abdon the Marathonite (Labdon the
Pharathonite/Phraathonite) 37.9
Abeiron biblical person 44.7
Abel biblical person 22.1, 2, 4, 5, 6,
23.1,24.4

Abener biblical person 38.3
Abessalom supporter of Constantine
Doukas 135.8

Abia biblical person 42.1, 2
Abiathar biblical person 39.2
Abimelech biblical person 37.6, 39.2
Abimelech Arab leader 113.8, 114.1
Abithem biblical person 37.5
Abor city in Media 44.19
Abraham biblical person, patriarch
32.4, 5, 33.1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 34.1,
35.5,36.5,6,9,109.11
Abraham (Abram) uncle of preceding
32.5

Absalom (Abesalom) biblical person,
son of King David 136.84
Abu-Bakr (Aboubacharos) successor
of the prophet Muhammad
109.14

Abu-Hafs emir ofMelitene 136.52,53
Abydos city at the Hellespont 121.10,
122.11,133.40

Achaia land/region 30.1
Achar (from Bethel) biblical person
44.7

Acheiropoietos (icon) 108.7,109.6
Achele biblical person 45.13
Achelon see Anchialos
Acheloos river in Thrace 135.20
Achiam the Silonite biblical person,
prophet 40.3, 44.1, 3
Achikan biblical person 45.4
Achyron location near Adrianople
93.2

Adam biblical person 8.4,11.1,3,

12.1, 13.1-7, 14.1,3,15.1,4, 5,
16.3,17.1-3,18.1-3,20.1-3, 22.1,
3, 4, 7,25.5,27.2, 33.5, 36.9,

37.14, 42.20,45.1

Adauktos magistros 86.4
Adda biblical person 24.1
Addo (Iddo) biblical person 40.3, 46.2
Ader biblical person 44.7
Adralestos domestikos 136.17
Adramyttion city of origin of
Theodosios III 119.4,120.1
Adranes aquaeduct in C/ple 105.8
Adria land/region 30.1
Adrian saint 131.11
Adrianople city in Thrace 63.2, 88.3,

93.2, 128.2, 131.9, 135.16, 136.27
Adrianos Chaldean, rebel against

emperor Romanos I 136.26
Adrianos patrikios, father of Helen

wife of emperor Romanos I’s son
Constantine 136.70

Adriatic sea 30.1
Aegyptus mythical person 36.5
Aelia Jerusalem 63.2
Aelius see Hadrian
Aemilian emperor 78.2, 79
Aeneas Trojan 54.1
Aetios protospatharios 124.13, 23
Aetios strategos 130.33
Africa land/region 88.8,98.6, 104.11,
106.4, 108.7, 115.2

Africanus (Sextus) Julius Africanus,
historian 66.2, 67.2, 75.2, 77.2
Africanus martyr 95.4
Africans people (who come from
Africa) 129.5 (Arabs?), 133.34
(Arabs)

Afros sonofKronos 28.2
Agallianos charioteer 131.46
Agathonikos, the martyr Church of
88.10

Agathos monastery 134.2
Agrippa see Herodes Agrippa
Agrippa son of Herodes Agrippa
50.11

Ahab biblical person 42.4, 5, 6, 44.7,

8, 10

Ahasuerus see Asuerus
Ahaz biblical person 42.11, 12,20
Aigides participant in the rebellion of
Constantine Doukas 135.9
Aiolis land/region 29.2
Aithiopika book by Heliodoros 95.9
Aitolia land/region 30.1
Aiulf (Ayicov) exarchos and doux of
Lombardy 133.11

Ajax (Aias) mythical person 88.12
Ak(k)oubita see Hall of the Nineteen
Couches

Akoimetoi monastery 99.8
Akritas emporion 131.38
Alae city in Media 44.19
Albania land/region 30.1

Alexander the Great Macedonian king
46.18,19,47.1,49.3
Alexander, son of Mamaea Roman
emperor 72.2, 73, 74.2
Alexander Byzantine emperor 132.6,
27,133.37, 47, 61, 63,134, 135.1,
12

Alexander patriarch of C/ple 88.9, 11,
89.6

Alexandria city in Egypt 53.6, 66.3,
74.1, 89.3, 96.2, 99.9,105.4
Alexas see Ptolemy Alexas
Alexios Mousele droungarios of the
vigla 124.12, 13, 16, 17, 20
Alexios Mousele, the Armenian
son-in-law of emperor
Theophilos 130.11-14
Alexios Mousele patrikios,

droungarios of the fleet 136.19,
20

Amantios praipositos 103.3
Amaseia city of origin of Stephen,
patriarch of C/ple 136.41
Amastrianos part of C/ple 131.44,
132.2,136.65

Amathei biblical person 42.9
Amazonis land/region 30.1
Ambram biblical person, father of
Moses 35.2, 3

Ambrose bishop of Milan 92.7,95.10
Amer (Umar ibn Abdallah ibn Marwan
al-Aqta) emir of Melitene 131.4,
24, 26; cf. 136.52
Amesias biblical person 42.8
Aminadam biblical person 37.13
Amman biblical person 46.9
Ammonites people 37.7
Amorian see Michael II
Amorion city in Anatolia 120.2,

122.3, 125.6,130.32
Amos biblical person, prophet 42.9
Amos biblical person, prophet 44.13

256

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Amos (Amon) biblical person, son of
Manasses, king of Judah 42.14,
15

Ananias (Hananiah) (false) prophet

42.2, 3, 15; cf. 44.3 (Jous the son
of A.)

Ananias exilarch in Babylon 42.17,
45.8

Anaplous on the Bosphorus (cf.
Sostheneion) 88.10, 99.3,

102.2

Anastasia wife ofTiberios I 106.2
Anastasia sister of Michael III
131.21

(St) Anastasia church 95.7, 99.2 (the
bodily remains of St Anastasia),

6,106.2

Anastasios Dikoros emperor 102,
103.3, 10, 104.3; cf. 109.4 n.
(Anastasian Wall)

Anastasios seeArtemios
Anastasios, the presbyter patriarch of
C/ple 121.9,122.3,4
Anastasios sakellarios 136.18
Anastasios Gongylios supporter of
the empress Zoe Carbonopsina
135.12, 136.4

Anatolikon thema 119.7,120.2, 121.5,

125.5, 127.3, 129.4; cf. 130.21;
cf. AvatoXfi (East), about the
Orient or about part of the
empire 48.1, 78.1, 87.2, 3,109.5,

7.113.5 (and West), 130.15,
131.26, 133.10, 136.74

Anatolios patriarch of C/ple 98.1,7,

99.5

Anchialos (Achelon) city in Bulgaria
122.13; 124.6

Andragathios murderer of emperor
Gratian 94.2, 95.2
Andreas apostle 88.7
Andreas coppersmith 104.12

Andreas hetaireiarches 131.7
Andreas stratelates 132.2; perhaps
the same as Andreas stratelates

133.2

Andreas domestikos of the scholai
132.25,133.3, 6, 7, 8-10
Andreas primikerios 136.2
Andriantes (Imagines ) book by John
Chrysostom 95.11
Andronikos martyr 105.4
Andronikos Doukas 133.52, 53, 54,

55, 56, 57

Angaios biblical person 46.2
Anna sister of Michael III 131.21
Anna daughter of Leo VI and Zoe
Zaoutzina 133.31

Anna wife of Stephen son of Romanos
I 136.68

Anna supporter of Romanos I 136.5
(St) Anna church 116.5
Anthemios emperor 99.1
Anthemios monastery 131.47
Anthimos son of Constantine V,

nobelissimos 124.17 (cf. 123.4)
Antigonos Monopthalmos one of the
successors of Alexander the
Great 47.2

Antigonos domestikos of the scholai,
son of Caesar Bardas 131.23
Antigonos island 136.14
Antioch city in Syria 73.3, 85.2, 88.6,

89.2, 92.9,94.4,10, 11,96.4,

101.6, 103.6, 8, 104.4
Antiochos IV Epiphanes 47.8
Antipas see Herodes Antipas
Antipatros of Askalon 48.2, 3
Antichristos 122.2
Antoninus Pius emperor 63.4, 64
Antoninus, son of Severus emperor
Caracalla 70, 71.2

Antonius imperator and consul of the
Romans 50.2

INDEX OF NAMES

257

Antonios from Sylaion patriarch of
C/ple 130.4, 9,14, 25
Antonios Kauleas patriarch of
C/ple 133.14,29; cf. 133.25
(Kauleas monastery)

Aod biblical person 37.4
Aphrodite 24.6 (planet), 28.2 (person),

56.2 (goddess)

Apolasath strategos of Melitene
136.52

Apollinarios poet 90.5
Apollo ancient god 48.2
Apollonias city in Asia Minor 116.5
Apollonios from Tyana ancient
magician 60.4,132.21
Apostoupes strategos in the
Peloponnese 132.20
Apros murderer of emperor Carinus

85.1

Apsimaros see Tiberios
Apsis in C/ple, location of building
activity of Theoktistos the
logothete 131.5
(Old) Arabia land/region 28.1
Arabia Felix land/region 28.1
Arabias sonofNizaros 109.11
Arabs people 112.3, 5, 113.3, 4, 8,

114.1,115.2,119.2, 121.2, 122.3,
16, 123.5, 8,124.5, 15, 20, 125.6,
129.5, 130.27

Arcadia land/region 30.1
Archistratege, the Rising (Church of
the) in C/ple 132.8
Ardabourios domestikos 97.9, 98.6,

99.1

Areadne (Ariadne) empress consort
of (emperor) Zeno (and of
Anastasios Dikoros) 100,101.1,
3,9

Areas biblical person 45.6
Areovindos komes of th efoideratoi

97.5

Areovindos district in C/ple with
bath in which Theoktistos the
logothete was murdered 131.20
Ares god, planet 24.6 (planet), 28.4,

90.6

Arethas saint 103.4
Argives inhabitants of city 36.7
Argos city in Greece 36.7
Argyroi family clan 136.20,137.2
Arians heretics 93.2, 95.8, 99.1
Aristoboulos high priest in Jerusalem
47.8,9

Arius haeresiarch 88.6, 89.3
Arkadia sister of Theodosios II 97.8
Arkadianai part of C/ple 132.11
Arkadios emperor 95.1,4,6, 12,96,
97.1,121.18 (statue of)
Arkadioupolis city 96.1, 122.18
Armatios (Armatos) participant in the
rebellion against emperor Zeno
101.1

Armenia land/region 25.4, 30.1
(Lesser and Greater)
Armeniakon thema 119.7,124.4,12,
13, 16,17,136.47, 60, 70
Armenians people 88.13,112.7
(Nizizios), 119.7 (Artavasdos),

122.5, 128.1 (Leo the Armenian),

130.6, 11, 131.9 (Leo the
Armenian), 43 (Symbatios the
Armenian), 46 (Constantine the
Armenian), 133.16 (the Armenian
Kourtikes), 135.6 (Kourtikes the
Armenian), 16 (Pankratoukas the
Armenian), 19, 136.26 (Tatzates
the Armenian), 53, 82

Armonianai see Bordon’s
Arotras father of Abessalom 135.8
Arpades Turkish (Magyar) leader
133.17

Arphaxad biblical person 26.1, 2, 33.4
Arran biblical person 32.5,33.2

258

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Arsakios patriarch of C/ple 96.5, 97.9
Arsamos father of Darius 46.17
Arsenios saint 95.4
Arsenios manglabites 136.15
Arsinoe mother of Ptolemy I 47.2
Arsinoe see Eurydike or Arsinoe
Artabanos Persian king 46.8
Artavasdos Armenian 119.7
Artavasdos kouropalates, rebel
against Constantini V 122.3
Artavasdos hetaireiarches 131.52, 53
Artaxerxes Makrocheir, son of Xerxes
Persian king 46.9-11
Artaxerxes, son of Darius and

Parysatis Persian king 46.14
Artaxerxes Ochos Persian king 46.15,
16

Artaxerxes see also Kambyses or
Artaxerxes

Artemios (or Anastasios) emperor
118.3, 119

Arthasastha see Kambyses or
Artaxerxes and Artaxerxes
Makrocheir, son of Xerxes
Asa biblical person 42.2, 3
Asaf biblical person 39.2
Asclepius ancient pursuer of medicine
(sic) 37.8

Asher biblical person 34.3
Asia part of the world or of the empire
30.2,46.1,47.2,78.1, 109.5
Askalon see Antipatros from Askalon
Asotios Ashot II, (son of the) King of
Kings of Armenia 135.15
Asouam see Azouran
Asour city 26.8

Aspar domestikos 97.7,9,98.6,99.1;
cf. 130.28 (the cistern of Asporos
(Asparos))

Assyria land/region 28.1, 83
Assyrians people 28.2-4, 32.4, 36.7,
42.12, 44.18, 19, 46.1

Astyages see Darius
Astynome wife of Afros 28.2
A(ha)suerus father of Darius 45.11,

Asyleon relative of Basil I 131.35,50,

51,132.2

Ateous Bithynian fortress 136.7
Athanasios patriarch of Alexandria
89.3

Athanasios Jacobite patriarch 109.16
Athenodoros from Alexandria, teacher
of Augustus 50.6
Athens city 81.2, 88.7, 89.3, 92.9,

97.1,122.15, 124.21,133.10, 27,
135.17

Attica region 30.1, 37.4
Attikos patriarch of C/ple 97.9
Augusteus column in C/ple with
equestrian statue of Justinian
104.10,130.40

(Octavian) Augustus Caesar emperor
50, 54.1

Aurelian emperor 81.3, 82, 84.2
(St) Autonomos church/monastery
107.11

Auxentios Theophoros mountain near
C/ple 117.5,122.9
Avars people 30.3,97.12,107.3,

108.4, 109.4, 7; cf. 107.4
‘barbarians,’ probably referring
to Avars

Avitus emperor 71.2,72
Axum Ethiopian city 103.4 n.

Azarias biblical person 42.9, 17,45.8
Azouran biblical person 24.5

Baal Assyrian god(dess) 28.4, 44.10
Baanes praipositos 132.3
Baasa biblical person 44.3, 4
Baboutzikos participant in the
rebellion of John Krokoas
132.26

INDEX OF NAMES

259

Babylas saint 85.2
Babylon city (also used in a

metaphorical sense) 26.8, 30.2,
42.17,44.20,45.2, 4, 6, 7, 47.2,
133.23 (‘daughter of Babylon’:
of Zoe Zaoutzina)

Babylonia land/region 28.1,42.12,

47.2

Babylonians people 44.19
Baithel see Bethel
Baktria land/region 27.4,46.18
Baktriane land/region 28.1
Balbinos emperor 74.2, 75.1
Ballantios tourmarches 136.5
Ballichos murderer of Antipater 48.3
Baltasar biblical person 45.11
Baneas biblical person 40.3
Barachaios mountain inhabited by
monks supporting Romanos I
136.59

Barak biblical person 37.5
Bardanes the Turk patrikios, strategos
ofAnatolikon 125.5
Bardanes see also Philippikos
Bardas (Caesar Bardas) brother of
empress Theodora 131.5,19,20,
22, 23,25, 28, 31, 33-40; on his
palace in C/ple: 133.43, 44
Bardas son ofKordyles 131.10
Bardas brother of Basil I, father of
Basil the rector 131.35, 50
Bardas Boilas strategos in Chaldea
136.26

Bardas Phokas magistros 135.19,
136.73, 137.2
Barnabas apostle 101.6
Barouch see Bouzi
Barymichael father of unnamed
tourmarches 136.5
Basileides heresiarch 63.5
Basil I emperor 131 (passim), 132,
133.1, 6, 8, 134.1, 9

Basil (the Great) Church father 92.9,

93.3

Basil rector 131.50
Basil patrikios , magistros, kanikleios
133.60, 135.16

Basil Macedonian rebel (who claimed
to be Constantine Doukas)
136.64

Basil Epiktes rebel against Leo VI
133.25-27

Basil Kamateros hetaireiarches
133.42

Basil Onomagoulos usurper crowned
emperor in Sicily 121.13
Basil Peteinos domestikos of the
scholai, patrikios, megas
hetaireiarches 136.84, 137.2
Basil the Rhodian cleric 136.47
Basiliskianos patrikios 131.46, 49, 50
Basiliskos participant in rebellion
against emperor Zeno 101.1
Basilitzes (or Basil, see 134.4) the Slav
supporter of emperor Alexander
134.4,9, 135.12
Bastranis land/region 30.1
Bathouel (Pethuel) biblical person
42.10

Bekrei biblical person 42.9
Bel(l)isarios strategos 104.5, 11, 15,16
Benjamin biblical person 34.5; cf.
tribe of Benjamin 38.1, 39.5, 41.1,

43.4

Benjamin son of Symeon the
Bulgarian 136.45
Ber(e)nike daughter of Herodes
Agrippa 50.11

Beroia city in Macedonia (Thrace),
renamed Irenopolis 124.6
Bertha see Eudokia (Bertha)

Berzetia Slav settlement in Macedonia
or Thessaly 122.16
Bessus Persian satrap 46.18

260

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

261

Bethel (Baithel) holy place; where
Jacob had his vision 34.6,41.3,
44.7,19

Bethleem city 34.5, 37.8, 50.10
Bilhah (Balia) biblical person 34.3
Bithynia land/region 29.2,136.73
Blachernai district of C/ple with
palace, public bath, etc. 98.3,

105.3,106.3, 107.2,115.5, 116.5,
119.6, 122.7,128.2,130.10,

13, 31,42,132.26,135.10,11,

13,136.24,29,32, 48, 81; cf.
Church of the Mother of God at
B. 131.30, Church of St Soros
(St Mary) at B. 133.22 (sim.
136.24,32)

Black Sea (Euxeinos Pontos etc.)

109.6,122.11,136.72
Boeotia land/region 30.1
Boiditzes disciple of Leo the

philosopher; one of those who
betrayed Amorion 130.33
Bonos patrikios 109.7
Book of Wisdom by Jesus Sirach 47.5
Boosforion location close to C/ple
122.11

Bordon’s ((or Gordon’s/Kordon’s)
monastery of Armonianai) in
which patriarch Photios spent
time as an exile 133.3
Bosporania land/region 30.1
Bostra land/region 76.1
Boukellarioi thema 131.7,26
Boukephalos horse of Alexander the
Great 49.3

Boukoleon part of C/ple with palace
and harbour 130.43, 44, 133.25,
135.26,30

Boulgarofygon (Boulgarogefyron) site
of battle with the Bulgarians in
896 133.21

Boutios emporium 133.40

Bouzi (perhaps for Barouch) biblical
person 42.17

(Ta) Braka (or Hebraika) monastery in
which emperor Staurakios died

126.4

Britain land/region 30.2, 69.5,94.2
Britons people 49.2, 94.2
Brutus murderer of Julius Caesar

49.4, 50.2

Bryas palace near C/ple 130.23,32
Bulgaria land/region 122.16, 17,

124.19,131.9, 11,25,133.15, 17,
18,134.8, 135.10,136.45, 51
Bulgarians people 113.6, 114.2,116.4,

117.4, 118.2, 121.12, 14, 122.10,
13,16,18, 124.15, 125.10, 127.3,
131.11, 18,25, 35, 50, 133.15, 16,
18-20, 135.14, 19-21,23,136.16,
17,19,20,23, 24,27, 34,46-51,
60, 67

Byzantines inhabitants of the City
69.2,103.2,112.6,113.3
Byzantium City of Constantinople

42.15.60.4.69.2, 82.1, 88.3,4, 7,
9, 11, 94.1, 102.11,104.16, 107.3,
109.7,122.5, 129.4

Cadmus Theban king 37.5
(Gaius Iulius) Caesar Iulius Caesar
42.11,48.1,49,50.2
Caesarea city 80.2, 89.9, 93.3; cf.

Prokopios from C.

Canaan biblical person, son of Ham
31, 32.2

Canaan (Chenaanah) see Sedekias
(Zedekiah)

Canaan biblical land 31, 33.4, 36.4
Canaanites people, inhabitants of C.

33.4, 6, 36.4, 37.5, 42.13
Capitol Hill in Rome 61.2
Cappadocia land/region 30.1, 96.2,

109.2, 3,130.32, 133.21, 136.2

Cappadocians people 30.3
Caria land/region 29.2
Carinus emperor 84.2, 85.1
Carus emperor 84.2, 85.1
Cassius one of Julius Caesar’s
murderers 49.4, 50.2
Cecrops Diphyes king, mythical
founder of Athens 37.4
Celts people 88.13
Cephalonia island 30.2,116.2,

132.20

Cerinthus heresiarch 62.4
Chadiga wife of the prophet
Muhammad 109.11, 12
Chagan, leader of the Avars 107.3,4,

109.4, 113.5,121.17, 122.6
Chalcedon city near C/ple 92.5, 98.2,

109.3, 5,122.3,136.5
Chaldea (Chaldia) thema 132.2,

136.26

Chaldeans people 26.3, 32.3, 33.2,
45.5; cf. John the Chaldean
Chaleb biblical person 37.2
Chalke Copper (Bronze) Gate (or
entrance complex) of the Great
Palace 103.6,107.7,121.8,
124.24,135.6

Chalkoprateia Copper Market in C/ple
98.3,121.9,131.34

Cham biblical person 24.10,25.3, 4,
27.1-4, 29.1,31, 32.1, 37.3
Chariton saint 82.3
Charlemagne see Karoulos
Chartophylax estate 132.2
Chase son of Ioube Arab commander
killed in Athens 135.17
Chazaria land/region 116.3, 117.3
Chazars people 133.16; cf. ‘the

Chazar’ (of the Chazar Chagan)
116.3 (cf. 121.17 n.); see also ‘the
Chazar woman’ (of Irene, wife of
Constantine V) 122.6, 123.1

Chelkias biblical person 42.15
Cherson city (Chersonesus Taurica)
114.7, 116.3, 133.21
Chersonites inhabitants of the city

117.4

Chettoura biblical person 35.5
Chios island 30.2
Chora monastery in C/ple 109.2
Chosroes (Khosrow/Khusrau) I
Sasanianking 104.16
Chosroes (Khosrow/Khusrau) II
Sasanianking 107.12,108.4,

109.3, 5, 8, 9

Chous (Chouse), the Ethiopian biblical
person 26.5, 7

Chousarsathon (Chousarsathaim)
biblical person 37.2
Christopher son of Constantine V
122.15, 124.17

Christopher son-in-law of Basil I,
victor at Tibrike in 872 132.7
Christopher son of Romanos I 136.3,
12,21, 48-50, 54, 60, 62,67,

137.5

Christopher koitonites, protovestiarios
133.24, 27; cf. 133.40 (monastery
of)

(the) Chronicle book by Eusebios 35.5
Chrysaphios eunuch 97.12
Chryse Petra see Golden Cliff
Chryse Porta see Golden Gate
Chrysoboullos at Tarsos scene of
battle in 883 132.25
Chrysopolis city near C/ple 88.3,

107.1,108.4, 120.3, 122.3, 11,
124.5, 125.5, 131.54, 133.2, 135.9,

136.5

Chrysorrhoas see John the Damascene
Chysotriklinos reception hall in the
Great Palace 131.31
Cilicia land/region 29.2, 103.7
Cilicians people 30.3

262

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

263

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Nero

Germanicus, emperor 52.3, 53,
54.1

Claudius II (Gothicus) emperor 81
Clemens Stromateus Clement of
Alexandria, theologian and
writer 66.3, 77.2

Cleopatra Euergetis queen of Egypt,
mother of Ptolemy II Soter 47.10
Cleopatra, daughter of Neos Dionysios
last queen of Egypt 47.11,48.1,

5, 50.2

Coele-Syria land/region 28.1
Colchis land/region 30.1
Commagene land/region 28.1
Commodus emperor 65.2,66
Constans son of Constantine I 88.8,

89.1, 2

Constans emperor 111.2,112,113.1
Constantia wife of Licinius 88.2, 3
Constantia wife of Gallus caesar 89.2
Constantina wife of emperor Maurice
107.10,108.3

Constantine the Great emperor 81.1,

87.1, 2, 88, 95.5, 97.13,130.42
Constantine II emperor 88.8, 89.1
Constantine III emperor 109.6,15,

110, 111.2, 112.1

Constantine IV emperor 113,114.1
Constantinus V Copronymus emperor
121.7, 15,17,122,123.1,2, 124.9,
17,131.44

Constantine VI emperor 122.14,

123.3,4,124,125.3,129.4,

130.42

Constantine VII emperor 133.10, 47,
59,63, 134.1,4,9, 135, 136,137
Constantine son of Michael III (or

Basil I) 132.18, 21; cf. metochion
of St Constantine 132.11,
monastery of St Constantine
132.21

Constantine son of Romanos I 136.38,
70, 81,137.4, 5

Constantine bishop of Sylaion,
patriarch of C/ple 122.7, 8
Constantine droungarios 130.33
Constantine the Armenian

droungarios of the vigla 131.46
Constantine logothetes tou genikou
132.11

Constantine epi tes trapezes 133.11
Constantine son of Andronikos
133.57

Constantine servant of Samonas
133.60

Constantine parakoimomenos 133.61;
probably the same as: 135.12, 13,
24-26, 136.2,4
Constantine, son of Eulampios

participant in the rebellion of
Constantine Doukas 135.8
Constantinos, son of Boilas

participant in the rebellion of
John the mystikos in 925 136.43
Constantine Doukas domestikos of
the scholai 133.43, 44, 135.3-8,
9, 23,136.64

Constantine Gongylios advisor of
Zoe Carbonopsina 135.12, 22,
136.4

Constantine Helladikos patrikios,
monk 135.4, 8

Constantine Kephalas protopapas
135.19

Constantine Ktematinos participant in
the rebellion against Romanos I
in 919 136.8

Constantine Lips founder of

monastery; participant in the
rebellion of Constantine Doukas
133.51,135.9,19,20
Constantine of Malelia protasekretis
135.19, 136.4

Constantine Myares eparchos 131.43
Constantine Toxaras one of the
murderers of Caesar Bardas
131.35, 37, 50, 132.2
Constantius Chlorus emperor, father
of Constantine I 81.1, 86.1, 87
Constantius II emperor 88.8, 89, 90.1,
4

Corfu island 30.2

Cretans inhabitants of the island

136.16

Crete island 28.3,29.2, 36.7, 88.8,
115.3, 129.5,131.3,4,34,37
Croatians people 136.46
Ctesiphon city 85.1, 88.13, 109.8
Cumae see Sibyl, the Cumaean
Cycladic islands 30.2,129.5
(St) Cyprian martyr 77.2
Cyprus island 29.2,96.4,101.6
Cyrene city 29.1

Cyrus the Persian (Persian) king 46.1,
2, 4, 6, 10

Cythera island 30.2

Dacia Iand/region 87.1
Dadam biblical person 35.5
Daglaiphos senator 92.2
Dalmatia land/region 30.1; cf.

‘Dalmatian’ (on the origin of
Diocletian) 86.1

Dalmatius Flavius Dalmatius Caesar,
nephew of Constantine I 89.9
Dalmatos monastery 115.5,135.8
Damascus city 109.3,121.16; cf. John
the Damascene, Chrysorroas
Damatrys city 117.5,133.42,60
Damian of Tarsos, the Hagarene Arab
commander (emir) capturing
Demetrias ca. 900 133.30, 62,

135.17

Damianos patrikios, parakoimomenos
131.19,20,31

Damianos eunuch, droungarios of the
vigla 135.13

Damianos monastery in C/ple 133.22
Dan biblical person 34.3; cf. tribe of
Dan 37.10,41.3

Daniel biblical person, prophet 42.17,
45.6, 8,9, 12,46.10, 50.3
Daniel the Stylite saint 99.3
Danube river 88.4,128.2,131.9, 10,
133.17,135.21; cf. Istros
Daonion settlement near Herakleia in
Thrace 107.3

Daphne part of the Great Palace in
C/ple 131.5, 6 (site of Church of
St Stephen)

Darius Astyages Persian king, son of
A(ha)suerus 45.11,12
Darius Persian king, son of Hystaspes
46.3, 6, 7

Darius Nomios (Nothos) Persian king,
son of Xerxes 46.13, 14
Darius, son of Arsamos last king of
the Persians 46.17-19, 47.1
Darius probably for Chosroes,
i.e. generically for Persian
(Sasanian) king 104.16
David biblical person, prophet and
king 34.1,39.1-4,6,40.1,41.2,

43.1, 44.20, 48.4, 60.7, 8, 133.38,
136.84

David Kamoulianos rebel against
Romanos I 136.8
Debora biblical person 37.5, 6
Decalogue laws received by Moses
44.19

Decius emperor 76.3, 77, 97.4
Delphi seat of Pythian oracle 50.7
Demetrias fortress 133.30
Demetrios writer used by Eusebios
35.5

Demetrios basilikos notarios of the
idikon 136.18

264

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

265

Demetrios Kamoulianos one of
those who punished Petronas
130.10

Demetrios from Phaleron
philosopher 47.4

Demophilos patriarch of C/ple 94.4,

95.8

Demosthenes an illiterate person
mentioned in anecdote 93.4
Derbis land/region 30.1
Deucalion mythical person mentioned
in connection with great flood

37.3

Deuterios patriarch of C/ple 102.11
Deuteros Euergetes see Ptolemy
Deuteros Euergetes
Deuteros Soter see Ptolemy Deuteros
Soter

Diegesteus (Dagistheus) public bath in
C/ple 104.3, 106.2
Diippion gates of the hippodrome in
C/ple 122.3

Dinah biblical person 34.3, 5
Diocletian emperor 85.2, 86, 87.1
(St)Diomedes church 131.13,132.11
Dionysios (for Dionysos) see Ptolemy
Neos Dionysios
Distra (or Drista, Dristra, etc.

(Dorostolon/Silistra)) fortress on
the Danube 133.18
Dog Star Sirius 78.1, 134.9
Domitian emperor 59.2, 60
Domnika wife of emperor Valens

93.3

Dorylaion city in Anatolia 125.6,
130.27

Dyrrhachium city 42.17 (Epidamnos,
later renamed Dyrrhachium),
132.20

Eber biblical person 26.4-6,27.1
Edem where Paradise is 10.2, 24.8

Edes(s)a city 103.11, 136.80
Edna biblical person 32.5
Eglom king of the Moabites 37.4
Eglom the Zaboulonite biblical person

37.9

Egypt land/region 26.7,29.1,35.1,5,
36.2,4, 6,42.16, 17, 45.5, 47.3, 6,

48.5, 50.2, 53.6, 95.8, 109.3
Egyptians people 32.4, 35.1, 36.2,

3pp.), 37.3, 42.17, 44.1
Eisbaal king of the Sidonians 44.7
Eleazar biblical person 42.3
Elegmoi monastery in Bithynia
136.18

Eleim biblical person 37.9
Elephantinos tourmarches 136.64
Elesbaas Ella Atsheba (Kaleb of
Axum), king of the Ethiopians
103.4

Eleutherios monastery in C/ple
124.13,24,125.2

Eli biblical person 37.12,13, 39.2,
136.83

Eliakeim see Joakeim or Eliakeim
Eliakeim biblical person 45.8
Elijah biblical person 42.3,10,44.7-9,
132.24

Elisha (Elissaios) biblical person 42.3,
44.7, 8, 10, 11,99.9
Elymais land/region 28.1
Emma biblical person 24.8
Enoch biblical person 24.8
Enos biblical person 24.1, 5, 8
Ephesus city 61.1, 77.2 (of the Seven
Sleepers), 97.4, 7
Ephraim biblical person, son of
Joseph; cf. tribe of Ephraim

37.5, 6,41.1, 3, 43.4
Ephraim the Syrian saint 89.8
Ephratha land/region 34.5
Epicurus ancient philosopher 47.3
Epidamnos see Dyrrhachium

Epiphanes see Antiochos Epiphanes
and Ptolemy Epiphanes
Epiphanios bishop of Cyprus 96.4
Epirus land/region 30.1
Epitaphios book by Gregory the
Theologian 93.3

Eremia monastery in Merdosagari
(C/ple) 132.16

Erythraia see Sibyl, the Erythraean
Esau biblical person 34.1,2,8, 10
Esdras biblical person, writer 46.4,

Esebon from Bethlehem biblical
person 37.8

Estha biblical person 42.18
Esther biblical person 46.9
Ethiopia land(s)/region(s) 29.1 (‘the
part which looks towards India,
and the other E.... Erythra’),
37.4, 78.1, 109.3
Ethiopians people 29.1,103.4
Euboia island 30.2
Euchaita episcopal see of Theodore
the Santabarene 132.21,133.6
Eudokia augusta, wife of Theodosios
II 97.1,2, 11

Eudokia augusta, wife of emperor
Herakleios 109.1
Eudokia Dekapolitissa wife of
Michael III 131.6, 53
Eudokia Ingerina wife of Basil I

131.6, 32, 45, 46, 48, 49, 53,

132.6, 18

Eudokia fiancee of Caesar Bardas
131.28

Eudokia (Baiane) third wife of Leo VI
133.32

Eudokia (Bertha) daughter of Hugo
king of France, wife of Romanos
II 136.78

Eudokimos son of Constantine V,
nobelissimos 123.4, 124.17

Eudoxia wife of Arkadios 96.2,4
Eudoxios patriarch of C/ple 89.7
Euergetes see Ptolemy Euergetes
(Ptolemy III) and Ptolemy,
brother of Philometor, Euergetes
Euergetis see Cleopatra Euergetis
Eugenia martyr 75.1
Eulalios a rich man who died poor
103.12

Eulampios (cf. Constantine, son of
Eulampios) 135.8
Eulogios the Persian fellow

conspirator of Basil I 131.52
Eunomios patriarch of C/ple 89.7
(St) Euphemia martyr 95.4 (on church
in Petra named after her), 122.14
(on bodily remains and church),

136.9 (on monastery at the
Petrion)

Euphemios patriarch of C/ple 102.7
Euphrates river 28.1,42.17
Euphrosyne wife of Michael II 129.3,
6,130.2, 5

Eupraxios stratelates in Sicily
132.20

Eurydike or Arsinoe mother of
Ptolemy III Euergetes 47.5
Eusebios (Eusebius Pamphili, from
Caesarea) writer 35.5, 88.10
Eusebios bishop of Nicomedia 89.5,

6, 90.1

Eusebios imperial eunuch 90.4
Eustathios patrikios, droungarios of
the fleet 133.17,19, 34, 40
Eustathios Argyros protostrator
131.37

Eustathios Monomachos quaestor
130.10

Euthymios synkellos, patriarch of
C/ple 133.50, 59, 61, 134.2,

136.13; cf. 133.61 (monastery of)
Euthymios bishop of Sardeis 128.6

266

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INDEX OF NAMES

267

Euthymios member of regency council
134.9

Eutropios harbour at Chalcedon

108.2, 3

Eutychianos promoter of Avitus 71.2
Eutychios patriarch of C/ple 105.7
Eve biblical person 14.3, 15.1,3, 5,

16.1, 3,4,17.1-3, 18.1-3, 20.2,

22.1

Ezekias see Hezekiah

Faras guard (prisoner warden) of
Vandal king Gelimer 104.15
Faunus ancient god 28.5; cf. Hermes
Festus Porcius Festus, Roman

procurator (or praefectus) in
Judea 54.4, 5

Flavian patriarch of C/ple 97.12, 98.7
Florianus emperor 83, 84
Floros monastery 124.7
Forty Holy Martyrs church in C/ple
107.2

Forum Boarium marketplace in C/ple
108.8,114.7

Forum Tauri square with pillar in
C/ple 101.8, 102.9
France land/region 133.11,136.78
Franks people 121.9,124.4

Gabalas father of Anna wife of
Stephanos Lekapenos 136.68
Gabriel archangel 109.12
Gabrielopoulos friend of emperor
Alexander 134.4,9,135.12
Gad biblical person 34.3, 39.2
Gadeira (Cadiz) city 27.4, 29.1
Gades biblical person 44.16
Gaidad biblical person 24.1
Gainas Goth commander, rebel
against Arkadios 96.6
Gaius see (Gaius Iulius) Caesar
Gaius emperor (Caligula) 51.1, 3, 52

Galaad mountain 34.4
Galaadite see Iaeir the Galaadite and
Iephthae the Galaadite
Galakrenai close to C/ple, at the
Bosphorus, site of monastery
of patriarch Nicholas 133.50,
134.2,136.29 (on monastery
close to G. of John the rector ),
40

Galates son of emperor Valens 93.3
Galatia land/region 30.1
Galatians people 30.3, 88.13
Galba emperor 55, 56.3
Galenus emperor 80
Galerius caesar 86.1-3, 87.1
Galilea land/region 48.3
Galileans of Christians 96.4
Galla second wife of Theodosios I

95.1

Gallus emperor 77.1, 78
Gallus caesar 89.2,9
Gamer biblical person 30.3
Gastria monastery 130.5,131.21,22
Gaul land/region 89.2
Gauls people 49.2
Gaza city 46.19
Gedeon biblical person 37.6
Gelimer last king of the Vandals
104.11, 15,16

Genesios son of Constantine the
Armenian 131.46

Gennadios patriarch of C/ple 99.5, 7
Genseric (Gizerichos) Vandal king

95.6.98.6

Geon Nile River 29.2

(St) George martyr 85.2

George protospatharios , pinkernes

137.6

George Boraphos patrikios 118.3,

119.1

George Krinites stratelates 133.16,
42

George Peganes strategos 131.42,43
George Pisides poet 109.6
George Soursouboulis brother-in-law
of Symeon the Bulgarian 136.45,
47,49

Gepids people 97.12
Germanikeia city of Syria (Asia
Minor) 122.5, 132.17
Germanos caesar 106.4
Germanos bishop of Kyzikos,

patriarch of C/ple 113.1,119.3,6,
121.8, 122.3

Germans people 49.2, 65.3
God’s Wisdom see St Sophia
Goeleon settlement in Bithynia 136.7
Golden Cliff (Chryse Petra) mountain
inhabited by monks 136.59
Golden Gate City gate of C/ple 104.8,

113.3, 118.2, 122.3, 124.19, 128.2,
131.13, 135.10,136.81
Gomareis people 30.3
Gomostoi family clan 131.12 (about
Leo of the Gomostoi)

Gonath biblical person 44.6
Gopher land/region 42.9
Gordianus emperor 75.1, 2
Gordon see Bordon
Gotholia (Athaliah) biblical person,
daughter of Zambre 42.6,7
Gotholias biblical person, son of
Achikan 45.4, 5
Gothoniel biblical person 37.2
Goths people 92.8, 93.2, 96.6 n.,

97.12, 99.11; cf. Scythians
Goumer (Gouber) komes of Opsikion,
logothetes tou dromou, patrikios
131.42,133.7
Gozan river 44.19
Gratian emperor 94,95.1,2,6
Greece see Hellas
Greek (language) 47.4, 136.33 (‘the
language of the Romans’)

Greeks ("ET.X.qvsq) (ancient) people
(sometimes explicitly of pagans,
see e.g. 99.10) 30.3, 36.7, 88.9,

90.1, 95.5, 99.10

Gregory the Iberian domestikos of the
scholai, magistros 133.54, 135.3,
6,8

Gregory the Wonderworker saint

77.2, 102.8

Gregory the Theologian of Nazianzus,
Church father 92.9, 93.3, 94.4,

95.3, 7, 8

Gregory, son of Philemon papias
131.53

Gregory Mousoulakios patrikios
124.24

Hadrian Aelius emperor 62.3, 63
Hadrian’s Hunt (Adrianou Therai) city
founded by Hadrian 63.2
Hagar biblical person 33.6
Hagarenes people 33.6, 109.10, 111.2,
114.2,3,115.2,119.4,121.13.

18, 130.11,16, 17,18, 23, 28, 32,

131.3, 29, 132.7, 12,133.4, 12,
21,25, 30, 35,40, 52-54, 58,62,
134.7, 135.17,18, 136.28, 52, 76

Hagia Sophia see (St) Sophia
Hall of the Nineteen Couches

(AEKctevvea Aicou|3iTa) reception
hall in the Great Palace in C/ple
121.15, 131.6, 132.22
Halys river 133.42
Harran city in Mesopotamia 33.2,

34.2,4, 36.4, 6
Harun al-Rashid see Aaron
Hebdomon suburb of C/ple 96.2,

134.3, 135.10, 136.51
(Ta)Hebraika see Braka

Hebrews people 26.6, 8, 35.1,3, 36.3,

4, 39.6, 42.20, 46.2, 47.4-6, 50.7,

70.3, 121.2, 16, 132.10

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269

Helen wife of Constantius Chlorus,
mother of Constantine I 87.1,4
Helen daughter of Constantine, wife
of Julian 90.4

Helen daughter of Romanos 1 136.3
Helen wife of Constantine son of
Romanos I 136.70
Helenoupolis city in Bithynia 88.8
Heliba (or Olda) biblical person 42.15
Heliodoros bishop and writer 95.9
Helios son of Cleopatra 50.2; cf. 24.6
(of the sun)

Helioupolis city in Syria 113.3
Hellas part of the empire 114.6,

132.23 n., 133.30 (thema of
Hellas), 135.17,136.16; cf. Greece
Hellenes see Greeks
Hera goddess 28.2, 32.4
Heraclea city in Thrace 82.1, 107.3 n.
Herakleios emperor 107.1,108.7

(Herakleios the Elder, his father),
8,109,110,111.2,112.1
Herakleios brother of Constantine IV
113.2

Herakleios brother of Tiberios II 117.2
Herakleios monastery in the
Katabolos 125.5

Herakles mythical person 37.10; cf.

Pillars of Hercules 29.1
Heraklonas emperor 111, 112.1
H(i)eria palace by C/ple 109.15,

133.50; cf. 122.7 n. (on Synod
of H.)

Hermes 24.6 (planet), 28.5 (Faunus)
Herod father of Antipater from
Ascalon 48.2

Herod son of Antipater from Ascalon
48.3,4

Herod the Great, the Child-Slayer
Jewish king 50.8,10,11, 60.7
Herod Agrippa son of Herod the Great
50.11, 52.4, 53.4,7,54.4

Herod Antipas son of Herod the Great

50.11

Herod Philip son of Herod the Great

50.11

Herodias mother of Salome 50.11
Hesiod ancient poet 40.6
Hexapla book by Origenes 70.3
Hezekiah (Ezekias) biblical person
42.12, 13

Hierocles lover of emperor Avitus
72.1

Hieron location at the Bosphorus
122.11,131.29,136.72
Himerios sophist 92.9
Himerios protasekretis, logothetes tou
dromou 133.40, 52, 53,62, 134.7
Himyarites people 103.4
Hippocrates ancient writer on
medicine 46.6

Holy Apostles church in C/ple; burial
site of emperors 88.7, 8, 10,97.3,
104.7,105.1,124.9,22,130.44,
132.18,133.2, 33

Holy Apostle Thomas see (St) Thomas
Homer ancient poet 40.6
Honorius emperor 95.1,4, 6,96.1
Horologion (‘Sun-Dial Hall’) in the
Great Palace of C/ple 131.20, 31,
136.43

Hosea (Osee, son of Bekrei/Beeri)

biblical person, prophet 42.9-12
Hosiai site of monastery built by
Constantine the parakoi-
momenos 133.61
Hugo, king of France Hugo of
Provence 136.78
Hungarians people 131.11
Huns people 101.7 (Hephthalites, or
White Huns) 105.5,131.11, 12
Hypatios leader of Nika revolt 104.5
Hypogoths people 97.12
Hypsele fortress 133.4

Hyrkania land/region 28.1
Hyrkanos high priest in Jerusalem
47.8

Hyrkanos (John Hyrcanus)

Hasmonean leader 48.4
Hystaspes Persian king 46.3, 6

Iber kouropalates 136.22
Iberians people 30.3, 88.13
Iddo see Addo

Idithoum biblical person 39.2
Idumaea land/region 48.3
Idumaeans people 48.2
Ignatios patriarch of C/ple, son of
Michael I 131.8,17,28,132.5,

8, 16

Ignatios koitonites 131.49, 50
Ignatius Theophorus martyr 62.4
Ikasia participant in bride show,
poetess 130.3, 5

Ila biblical person 44.4, 5,19, 20
Ilion/Ilios city of Troy 37.8,12, 78.1,
88.12

Illos magistros 101.9
Illyria land/region 30.1
Illyrikon part of the empire 88.8
Inachos mythical person 36.)

India land/region 27.4,28.1, 88.4
Indians people 29.1, 88.4, 13
Inger (Engir/Ingar) father of Eudokia
(Ingerina) wife of Basil I 131.6,
53,132.6

Ion mythical founder of the tribe of
thelonians 30.3
Ionia land 30.2
Ionians Greek tribe 30.3
Ioube father of Chase 135.17
Iphitos founder of the Olympic Games

42.11

Irene empress, wife of Constantine
V 121.17; see also Chazars (‘the
Chazar woman’)

Irene empress, wife of Leo IV 122.14,
15, 124, 125.2, 3, 7, 129.4, 130.42
(St) Irene church in C/ple 88.10, 89.7
Irenopolis see Beroia
Iron Gate part of the Chalke at the
Great Palace of C/ple 131.7,

135.6

Isaac biblical person 33.6, 34.1, 8-10,

36.6

Isaiah biblical person, prophet 42.9,
11-13, 98.3

Isauria land/region 101.1, 121.3
Isaurians people 96.2,119.7 (Leo
the Isaurian), 121.1 (Leo the
Isaurian)

Ishmael biblical person 33.6, 109.11;

cf. 33.6 Ishmaelite tribe
Isidoros patrikios 130.42
Isokasios quaestor 99.10
Israel (usually about the) people 33.8,
34.7, 35.1, 36.4, 37.4, 9, 39.5, 41.3,
42.3, 5,44.6,19,20,45.3
Israelites people 42.4, 6; cf. 44.20 (the
Israelite kingdom)

Issachar biblical person 34.3
Istros river Danube 78.1, 116.3
Italy land/region 28.3, 50.2, 57.2, 78.1
Ithaca island 30.2

Jabe king of the Canaanites 37.5
Jacob biblical person, son of Isaak
8.4, 34.1-9, 10, 36.2, 6
Jacobites monophysites 109.16
Jadous high priest in Jerusalem 46.19
Jaeir the Galaadite ruler of Israel 37.6
Jakobitzes one of the murderers of
Michael III 131.50,132.2
James son of Zebedee (lakobos son
ofZebedaios) killed by Herod
Agrippa 50.11,53.4
James (lakobos) brother of Jesus
Christ 54.6

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271

(another) Jannes and Iambres see John
VII the Grammarian
Japheth biblical person, son of Noah

24.10,25.3, 4,27.1-4, 30.1, 3,

32.1

Jared biblical person 24.8
Jechonias or Joakeim see Joakeim or
Jechonias

Jechonias biblical person 45.8
Jehu king of Israel 42.5
Jembla biblical person 42.3
Jephthae the Galaadite biblical person
37.7

Jeremiah biblical person, prophet
42.15, 17,45.3, 6
Jericho city 44.7

Jeroboam Samarian king, son of Nabat

41.1, 3, 4,43.4, 44.1, 2, 20
Jeroboam Samarian king, son of Joas

44.13,14

Jerusalem city, seat of Temple, etc.

24.4, 41.2,42.6,16,18,44.1,

45.2, 3,4, 8, 13,46.2, 6, 9, 19,

48.3, 54.6, 56.3, 59.1,97.2, 99.2,
109.3; cf. 42.15 (‘in the Temple’)
and sim. 45.8, 46.3,6, 47.9; cf.

63.2 (‘city of the Jews’); see also
Salem

Jessai father of King David 39.1
Jesus son of Josedek biblical person

46.2

Jesus son of Naue(s) see Joshua son
ofNun

Jesus son of Sirach biblical writer
47.5

Jews people 40.5,47.6, 8, 9,48.3,
50.10, 53.7, 54.6, 58.2, 63.2,

109.3, 12, 112.3, 121.4
Jexan biblical person 35.5
Jezebel biblical person 44.7,10
Jezekiel biblical person 42.18,45.6,

8,9

Joab biblical person 39.2, 5
Joachas son of Josias biblical person
42.16, 17

Joachas son of Jous biblical person
44.11,12

Joakeim or Eliakeim biblical person
42.16-19,45.2

Joakeim or Jechonias biblical person,
king for three months 42.18,
44.20, 45.1

Joas son of Ochozias biblical person
42.7, 8

Joas son of Jachaz biblical person
44.12, 13

Joatham biblical person 42.10-11
Jobab biblical person 35.5
Jobel biblical person 24.1
Jodae son of Baneas biblical person

40.3

Jodae biblical person, father of
Zacharias 42.4, 7

JoelsonofBathouel biblical person
42.10

John the Prodromos, the Baptist 50.11,

90.2, 95.4

John the Theologian, the Evangelist
(Apostle) 60.3, 61.1, 97.7
John of Damascus, Chrysorrhoas
theologian 121.16
John Chrysostomos ecclesiastical
writer, patriarch of C/ple 95.11,

96.2,4, 5, 97.3, 9, 124.14
John IV Nesteutes patriarch of C/ple
105.9

John the Grammarian synkellos,
patriarch of C/ple (John VII)
128.5, 130.25,26, 131.2, 44
John patrikios 115.2, 3
John or Joannakes cleric 119.4
John praipositos 131.53
John droungarios of the vigla 132.11
John droungarios of the vigla 133.22

John the rector 134.9,135.12
John presbyteros, rector, friend of
Romanos I 135.29,136.15,19,
20, 29, 60

John mystikos, paradynasteuon

136.29, 39 (made patrikios and
anthypatos), 42, 43
John, son of Symeon the Bulgarian
136.45, 60

John Bogas patrikios 135.14,21,22
John the Chaldean strategos in
Chaldea 131.35, 50, 132.2
John Garidas hetairiarches,
domes tikos of the scholai
133.27,135.13,28; perhaps the
same as John the hetairiarches
135.23

John Grapson droungarios of the
exkoubitoi 135.19, 20
John Hagiopolites logothetes tou
dromou 133.3, 7

John Helladas magistros 134.9, 135 2
6, 11-13

John Kourkouas magistros,
droungarios of the vigla,
domestikos of the scholai
136.10,26, 53, 74, 76
John Krokoas (or Kourkouas or sim.)
domestikos of the hikanatoi
132.26

JohnLazares rector 134.3
John Neatokometes oikonomos at
St Sophia, supporter of Caesar
Bardas 131.35, 132.9
John Pittigaudes patrikios 113.4
John Radinos patrikios,

droungarios of the fleet
135.18,136.28

John Toubakes supporter of
Romanos I 135.27, 136.7
(St) John church in the Stoudios
monastery 99.8

Jonas son of Amathei, from Gopher
biblical person 42.9
Jonas biblical person 44.13
Jonas father of Symeon the strategos
133.21

Joram (Jehoram) biblical person
42.4-6

Joran (Ivram) biblical person 44 9
10

Jordan river 36.8
Josabed biblical person 42.7
Josaphat biblical person 42.3,4
Josaphat see Jous son of Safat
Josedek biblical person, cf. Jesus son
of Josedek 46.2

Joseph biblical person 34.3, 36.2, 3
Josephus historian 58.2,4
Joshua son ofNun (Jesus son ofNaue)
biblical person 36.8, 9, 37.1, 14,
42.15,20, 44.7

Josias biblical person 42.15, 16
Jothor biblical person 35.5
Jous son of Ananias biblical person

44.3

Jous son of Safat (Josaphat/

Jehoshaphat) biblical person
44.10, 11

Jovian emperor 89.4, 91, 92.2
Jubal biblical person 24.1
Judaea land/region 42.17,44.18,45.6,
46.9, 48.3, 50.8, 52.4
Judah biblical person, son of Joseph
34.3,10; cf. tribe of Judah (or
sim.) 37.1,8, 39.1,5,41.1,2,4,

43.4, 44.20

Julian the Apostate emperor 89.3,4,

9, 90, 91.1, 3

Julian’s Harbour in C/ple (as location
of palace) 105.6,106.2
Julianus Didius emperor 68
Julius see (Gaius Julius) Caesar
Justin I the Thracian emperor 103

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273

Justin II emperor 104.14, 105,106.2,
107.10

Justinian I emperor 103.9,104,105.2,
114.7,130.40, 131.27
Justinian II emperor 113.7,114,

116.3-5,117,121.5; cf. Triklinos
of J. 114.4,124.23
Justinian patrikios 113.1

Kaath biblical person 35.2, 36.6
Kabala fortress in Asia Minor
133.53

Kain biblical person 22.1-4, 6,

23.1-3, 24.1, 2

Kainan biblical person 24.8
Kallinikos patriarch of C/ple 114.5,

117.2

Kallinikos of Heliopolis, inventor of
Greek fire 113.3
Kallistos tourmarches 130.33
Kallistratos monastery 109.12
Kalokyris koitonites 133.27
Kalokyris Armenian monk 136.47
Kalypa monastery in the Great Palace
of C/ple 134.7
Kamalia land/region 29.2
Kambyses or Artaxerxes (or

Arthasastha) Persian king 46.4
Kampos (tou tribounaliou) Field of
Mars: space used for military
rallies outside C/ple 97.10, 107.4,
108.2,127.3,136.15
Karamalos Byzantine military
commander 133.34
Kardamos lord of Bulgaria 124.19
Karianos (Ta Karianou) district of
C/ple 107.2, 131.21
Karoulos Charlemagne, king of the
Franks 124.4

Karpokrates heresiarch 63.5
Katabolos location of Herakleios
monastery, in Bithynia 125.5

Katakylas grandfather of Anna
wife of Stephanos Lekapenos
136.68

Katasyrtai in Thrace, site of battle(s)
with the Bulgarians 135.23,

136.17

Katharoi heretics 99.6 (possibly
Paulicians)

Katharoi (monastery of) founded by
Narses 105.8

Katoudares participant in the rebellion
of John Krokoas in 886 132.26
Kauchanos Bulgarian military
commander 136.19
Kauleas monastery burial site of
Stylianos Zaoutzes 133.25
Keltzene fortified city in Eastern
Anatolia 131.43

Kephalas nick-name of Basil I 131.15;

see also Constantine Kephalas
Kepoi in Western Asia Minor, where
Caesar Bardas was murdered
131.35

Keraunobolos military legion from
Melitene 65.3

Kibyrrhaiotai thema 113.3,115.3,

132.2

Kimerdios Median magus 46.5,6
Kis father of King Saul 38.1
Kleidion (Kleidonion) location in the
Stenon (Bosphorus) 131.2
Koile location at the Black Sea 136.75
Konon original name of Leo III 121.8
Konstantinakes quaestor 133.18
Kopronymos see Constantine
Kopronymos
Kordon see Bordon
Kordyles strategos in Macedonia
131.10,11

Kordyne land/region 28.1

Koron fortress in Cappadocia 133.21

(lord) Kosmas hymnographer 133.38

Kosmas patrikios , logothetes tou
dromou 136.42,43
Kosmas magistros 136.83
Kosmas Helladikos merchant 133.15
Kosmidion estate of Caesar Bardas
131.22, 136.31 (location of
meeting between Romanos I and
Symeon the Bulgarian)
Koukousos place of John

Chrysostom’s exile 96.2
Kourtikes Armenian 133.16, 135.6
Kousanes Turkish (Magyar) leader

133.17

Krasas charioteer of the red faction
131.46

Krateros patrikios 133.7
Krenites see George Krenites
Krispos patrikios 108.7, 109.1
Kronos planet, man 24.6 (planet),

28.2 (man (Assyrian king) and
planet), 3 (man)

Krum leader of the Bulgarians 125.10,
127.3, 128.2,131.9,11
Ktismata book by Prokopios of
Caesarea 104.13

Kyklobion suburb of C/ple 113.3,

122.18 n.

Kyminas mountain inhabited by
monks 136.59

Kynegion theatre or hunting park 69.2
(hunting park), 117.2 (theatre),
122.3 (theatre), 131.47 (perhaps
hunting park)

Kyphe home for the elderly in C/ple
133.48

Kyros eparchos in C/ple, bishop of
Smyrna 97.13

Kyzikos city 78.1, 113.3, 119.3, 122.3

Laban biblical person 34.2-4
Lagos father of Ptolemy I 47.2, 3
Lalakaon river in Anatolia 131.26

Lamaris engineer 131.44
Lamech biblical person 24.1, 10
Lampoudes (or Lampades) father of
Philotheos the hyparchos 135.8
Laphidoth biblical person 37.5
Larpos astronomer 60.6
Laurentios saint, church (St
Laurentios) 97.3, 98.3
Lausiakon triklinos in the Great
Palace of C/ple 131.20
Lausos location in C/ple 131.43
(St) Lazaros church near the polo
ground in C/ple 133.27
(St) Lazaros church and monastery at
Topoi, burial place of the saint
133.33

Leah biblical person 34.3
Lebanon mountain and land/region
31,113.4,8

Legion of Melitene see Keraunobolos
Lemnos island 122.14, 133.35,136.28
Leo I, the Butcher emperor 99
Leo II emperor 100
Leo III, the Isaurian emperor 119.7,
120.2,121, 122.1, 128.5, 130.7 n„
42

Leo IV emperor 122.6,15,123,124.2
Leo V, the Armenian emperor 127.3,
128, 130.6, 7, 131.9, 13
Leo VI emperor 130.12, 131.45,
132.13, 22-25,27, 133,134.1,

3,4, 7-9,135.1; cf. 132.26
(unnamed prisoner, perhaps Leo)
Leo, sonofSymbatios investigator
employed by emperor
Theophilos 130.10
Leo the Philosopher (the

Mathematician) famous erudite
130.33-35, 131.34,132.4
Leo Macedonian youth,
hetaireiarches 131.12
Leo kastor, asekretis 131.39-41

274

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275

Leo from Tripoli Arab commander
133.40,41, 62; 136.28
Leo man working for Arsenios

136.15

Leo Argyros military man 135.19,
136.19, 20

Leo Chamodrakon protovestiarios

130.6.15

Leo Chatzilakios strategos 133.40
Leo Choirosphaktes envoy to the
Bulgarians; participant in the
rebellion of Constantine Doukas
in 913 133.19,20,135.8
Leo Katakalon (Katakalitzes)
domestikos of the scholai
133.21, 135.8

Leo Phokas magistros, domestikos of
the scholai 135.18-21, 23, 24,

26,28,29,136.2, 4-8
Leo Salibaras who introduced

Theodore the Santabarene to
Photios 132.21

Leo Sarantapechys patrikios 124.24
Leo Theodotakes magistros 133.22
Leonides father of Origenes 69.3
Leontios emperor 114.6,7, 115, 117.2
Leonto augusta, wife of emperor
Phokas 108.1

Lesbos island 30.2, 125.2, 7
Lesser ( Lepte ) Genesis (Liber

Jubilaeorum ) book by Moses
1.5,22.2

Leukaton (Leukate) location at the
Marmara Sea 114.3,135.9
Levi biblical person 34.3, 5, 6, 8, 35.2,
36.6; cf. Levitic tribe/tribe of
Levi: 34.7, 39.5
Libanios sophist 92.9,96.4
Libya land/region 28.2, 29.1, 109.3
Licinius emperor 86.3, 87.1, 3, 88.2, 3
Lips name of wind 133.51; see also
Constantine Lips

Locris land/region 30.1
Lombardy land/region 133.11, 136.78
Long Wall in Thrace 109.4
Lot biblical person 32.5, 33.4
Lucius adopted son of Galba 55.2
Luke evangelist 88.7 (bodily remains
of)

Lycaonia land/region 29.2, 125.5
Lychnitis land/region 30.1
Lycia land/region 29.2
Lycurgus Spartan law-giver 42.9

Maccabees family clan, founders of
Jewish rebel army and dynasty
47.8

Macedonia land/region 30.1, 47.2,
131.8, 10, 12, 13, 18, 32, 133.15,
16,27, 136.29,46
Macedonians people 46.18-47.2
(about Alexander the Great),
128.2, 131.10,11,12, 136.64
Macrinus emperor 70.2, 71
Madianitis desert 109.11
Mados mythical founding father of
the Medians 30.3
Maecenas friend of emperor
Augustus 50.4

Maglaba location in Thrace 136.19
Magnentius usurper during
Constantius II 89.2
Magoth biblical person 30.3
Maiotis land/region 30.1, 93.2
Makedonios heretic 89.6, 95.9
Makedonios patriarch of C/ple 102.7
Makrocheir see Artaxerxes
Makrocheir

Malachias biblical person 45.6
Malagina location east (probably) of
Nicaea 124.9

Maleleel biblical person 24.8
Mamaea mother of Roman emperor
Alexander 73.1, 3

(St) Mamas saint; also of location
in C/ple 122.11,124.17,128.2
(palace at St Mamas), 131.9, 31
(emporion of St Mamas), 43,

46, 53, 136.25 (monastery of
St Mamas); cf. 89.9 (church of
the martyr Mamas, probably in
Caesarea)

Mamas forefather of Theophano
wife of Constantine Lekapenos
136.70

Mamre (Oak of) biblical site 33.8
Manaeim biblical person 44.16,17
Manasseh, tribe of 37.6, 7
Manasses (Manasseh) biblical person,
son of Ezekias 42.13,14
Ma(g)naura palace building in C/ple
108.6,130.35, 131.6,132.14 n,
22, 133.58, 134.2
Manes heresiarch 82.3
Manganai palace and district of C/ple
122.11,136.8, 26

Maniakes droungarios of the vigla
131.20

Manikophagos one of those who
betrayed Amorion 130.33
Manoe biblical person 37.10
Mansour of John of Damascus
121.16

Manthanias see Sedekias
Manuel stratelates, magistros,
domestikos of the scholai
130.15-23,27,28, 133.55; cf.
monastery of M. 130.28
Manuel Kourtikes patrikios,

droungarios of the vigla, komes
of the stables 136.84,137.2
Maouel (Maiel) biblical person 24.1
Marathonite see Abdon the M.
Marcian emperor 97.7, 98
Marcus Antoninus emperor 64.2, 65,
66.1

Mardaites people 113.4,8,114.1
Mardochaios biblical person 46.9
Margarites triklinos see Pearl (Hall)
Marianos soothsayer 101.3
Marianos brother of Basil I 131.35,
50,132.2

Marianos son of Petronas 132.1
Marianos monk, patrikios 136.84,
137.4

Marianos Argyros komes of the
stables 137.2

Marina sister of Theodosios II 97.8
Marina (Ta Marines) part of C/ple
131.52

Marinos hyparchos 102.2
Mark evangelist 53.6
Markianos oikonomos, belonging to
the sect of the Katharoi 99.6
Markos oikonomos at St Mokios
church 133.38
Marmaris land/region 29.1
Marodach Assyrian king 45.10, 11
Maroules Olbian Mar(s)oules: about
his (unnamed) son, droungarios
of the hikanatoi 135.19
Marousioi people 104.15
Martina mother of emperor Heraklonas
109.16, 110,111.1,112.1
(Constantine) Martinakios father
of Theophano first wife of
Leo VI 132.22; cf. Martinakes
monastery 133.61
Martinos pope in Rome 112.4
Mary wife of Leo III, mother of
Constantine V 122.3
Mary wife of Constantine VI 124.4,

Mary daughter of emperor Theophilos
130.11-12

Mary first wife of Basil I 131.32
Mary daughter of Christopher son of
Romanos I 136.48,49,51,67

276

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Mary Magdalene biblical person
133.33

Masalmas (Maslamah b. Abd al-Malik)
Saracen king 120.2,121.10
Massyris land/region 29.1
Mathousala biblical person 24.1, 8,

Matthew apostle, evangelist 101.6
Mauias Arab commander 112.3,5,
113.4, 8

Maurice emperor 106.4, 5, 107,108.2,
3, 123.9,136.25
Mauritania land/region 29.1
Mauropotamon settlement in
Cappadocia 131.4, 29
Mauros patrikios 117.4
Maxentius caesar 87.1-3
Maximianos koitonites 131.31
Maximianus Herculius emperor 86.1,

3,5

Maximinus emperor 73.2, 74
Maximinus caesar 87.1-3
Maximinus relative of emperor

Tacitus, governor of Assyria 83
Maximos (the Confessor) holy person
112.4

Maximus rebel from Britain 94.2
Maximus emperor 74.2, 75
Mazaka city 30.3

Media land/region 27.4, 30.1, 2,42.12,
44.20

Medians people 30.3,46.1, 5
Medina see Yathrib
Megarians inhabitants of the city of
Megara 42.15

Melcham biblical person 32.5
Melchizedek biblical person 36.5
Melchol biblical person 39.4
Meleagros Macedonian 47.2
Meletios patriarch of Antioch 94.4
Melias (Mleh) Armenian military
leader 135.19, 136.53

Melissenos strategos 130.33
Melitene city 122.5,132.15, 136.52,

53; cf. the Legion of Melitene

65.3

Menander sorcerer from Samaria

62.4

Menedemos ancient philosopher 47.4
Menikos Bulgarian military
commander 136.19
Merdosagari district og C/ple 132.16,
133.51

Meschenians people, descendants of
Mesoch (i.e. Cappadocians) 30.3
Mese major street in C/ple (‘Middle
Road’) 114.7,124.22, 131.23,
133.27, 136.18; cf. 130.10 (‘in the
middle of the road’)

Mesembria city in Bulgaria 113.6,
135.20, 136.47, 60
Mesoch biblical person 30.3
Mesopotamia land/region 28.1,33.2,
34.2, 3,6,37.2

Mesraeim biblical person 26.7, 37.3
(Ta) Metanoias see Repentance
Methodios patriarch of C/ple 131.2, 17
Metrios man in the service of

Theodora mother of Michael III
132.9

Metrodoros Persian 88.4
Metrophanes bishop of Byzantion
88.11

Micah the Morathite (Michaias of
Moresheth), son of Jembla
biblical person, prophet 42.3,4,
10-12 (Micah the Morathite), 44.7
Michael archangel 102.4; cf. on
church(es) in his name: 88.10
(church(es) of the Archangel
Michael in Anaplous, and in
Sosthenion)

Michael I Ra(n)gabe emperor 126.3,
127,131.8, 9, 17

INDEX OF NAMES

277

Michael II emperor 128.10-12, 129,
130.7, 131.13

Michael III emperor 130.30,39,41,
131,132.1, 2,18, 133.2
Michael (Boris) Bulgarian leader
131.11, 25

Michael son of Symeon the Bulgarian
136.45

Michael son of emperor Christopher

137.5

Michael hetaireiarches 132.26
Michael protovestiarios 135.3
Michael cleric 136.5
Michael kourator of the Mangana
136.8

Michael son ofMoroleon, topoteretes

136.17

Michael Angoures praipositos
131.39

Michael Charaktes military
commander 133.34
Michael Diabolinos who disclosed
rebellion against Constantine
VII 137.7

Michael Doukas participant in the
rebellion of Constantine Doukas

135.6

Michael Styppiotes patrikios 136.29
Michael Toxaras envoy to Syria in
the service of empress Zoe

135.18

Michael Tzerithon participant in the
rebellion of Samonas 133.60,

Midas king of Phrygia 42.14
Midianites people 37.6
Milan city 92.7, 95.10,12
Milesian see Thales the Milesian
Milion monument in C/ple 124.14,
131.43

Misael biblical person 42.17,45.8
Mizizios see Nizizios

Moabitans people 37.4
Moesia land(s)/region(s) 29.2
(Moesia and ‘the other
Moesia’), 63.2, 79.1, 85.2,

103.6

(St) Mokios church, monastery, site
of cistern 88.10, 102.3, 133.36
Molossis land/region 30.1
Monokastanos monastery in Bithynia
136.42

Montanists heretics 121.16
Montanos heresiarch 66.3
Mopsou krene place of death of
Constantine II 89.4
Moroleon patrikios, strategos in
Adrianople 136.17, 27
Morotheodoros maglabites 131.38
Moses biblical person 1.5,8.4,24.2,
34.7, 35.1-5, 36.4, 6, 8,42.7, 12,
46.9

Most Holy Mother of God (church) at
Blachemai 98.3, 130.13; see also
(St) Soros

Most Holy Mother of God (church) in
Chalkoprateia 98.3
Most Holy Mother of God (church) at
Pege 136.49

Most Holy Mother of God (church) at
the Sigma 132.4

Most Holy Mother of God (church)
built by Narses 105.4
Most Holy Mother of God (church)
destroyed on the orders of
Justinian I 114.5

Most Holy Mother of God (church)
close to the Forum in C/ple
136.61

Mother of God (monastery) in
Chrysopolis 107.1, 131.54
Moundaros (Alamundarus) Saracen
commander 102.4
Moundaros son ofNizaros 109.11

278

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

279

Moundos one of the commanders

who put down the Nika rebellion

104.5

Moundraga city in Bulgaria 133.20
Mousikos eunuch in the service of
Stylianos Zaoutzes 133.15, 24
Mousilikes strategos in Cephalonia
132.20

Muhammad prophet 109.10-14,

125.6

(al-)Muktafi Abbasid caliph 133.54
Myron logothetes tou dromou 130.15
Mysterion room in the Great Palace in
C/ple 130.36

Mytilene (Lesbos) island 137.5, 7
Myxares participant in the rebellion of
JohnKrokoas 132.26

Nabat biblical person, father of
Jeroboam 41.1, 43.4, 44.1, 20
Nabat biblical person, son of
Jeroboam 44.2, 3
Nachor biblical person 32.3-5
Naissos city in Dacia (Nis) 87.1
Namese (Nimshi) biblical person
44.10

Naoum biblical person 45.6
Naphthali (Nephthaleim) biblical
person 34.3; cf. 37.5 (tribe of
Naphthali)

Narcissus murderer of emperor
Commodus 66.2
Narseh see Shapur
Narses Persian king 46.16,17
Narses strategos, koubikoularios

104.5,105.4, 8,106.4
Narses (Ta Narsou) monastery 130.44
Nasar stratelates {droungarios') of the
Boukellarioi 131.26
Nathan biblical person 39.2,40.3
Naue see Joshua son of Nun
Nazarene of Christ 90.3, 121.6

Nazianzus see Gregory the
Theologian

Nea Ekklesia church built by Basil I
132.12,14, 19,133.10
Neatokometes see John N.

Nebrod biblical person 26.5
Nebuchadnezzar (Nabouchodonosor)
Assyrian king 42.17,18, 45.2-4,
6,8-11

Nechao Pharaoh 42.16
Negra Ethiopian city 103.4
Nehemiah biblical person 45.13, 46.9
Nektarios patriarch of C/ple 95.8,

96.4

Neocaesarea city 102.8
Neorion part of C/ple 99.2, 115.4
(harbour of N.)

Neos Dionysios see Ptolemy, Neos
Dionysios

Ner biblical person 38.3
Nero emperor 54

(Marcus) Nerva emperor 61, 62.1; cf.

60.5 (fNerva)

Nestorios patriarch of C/ple 97.9,12
New Fortress (Katvov OpoOpiov) in
eastern Thrace 82.1
Nicaea city 88.6, 119.5,6, 121.18,
124.10, 130.39

Nicholas one of the Seven Deacons
62.4

Nicholas hetaireiarches, father of
Pardos the droungarios and of
Basil Epiktes 133.22, 25, 27
Nicholas son of Constantine Doukas
135.23

Nicholas Androsalites prosmonarios
at St Diomedes church,
oikonomos, synkellos 131.13-15,
132.11

Nicholas Koubatzes participant in
rebellion against Romanos I
(ca. 921) 136.18

Nicholas Mystikos patriarch of
C/ple 133.29, 34, 47, 49, 50,

54, 134.2,9, 135.2, 11, 13,26,
30, 136.3, 11, 13, 29, 32, 38,

40; on his monastery see s.v.
Galakrenai

Nicomedia city 88.3, 8, 89.5, 6,
90.1,92.2,101.2, 107.11 n.,
120.3,121.18, 131.41
Nikephoros caesar 122.5, 124.2, 17
Nikephoros I emperor 124.24,125,

126.1, 127.1, 131.8, 9
Nikephoros patriarch of C/ple 125.9,

127.1, 128.1, 3, 6, 7
Nikephoros patrikios 116.2
Nikephoros Kaminas droungarios

133.42

Nikephoros Maleinos who put down
the rebellion of Symbatios
131.42, 43

Nikephoros Phokas domestikos
133.17-20

Niketas son of Constantine V 122.15,
124.17

Niketas patriarch of C/ple 122.8,

123.4, 6

Niketas son of Artavasdos* 122.3
Niketas asekretis, protonotarios

135.4, 9

Niketas patrikios, magistros, relative
of Romanos I 135.30,136.16,

48, 54

Niketas Helladikos protovestiarios,
protospatharios,papias 132.23,

135.16

Niketas Skleros envoy to the Turks

133.17

Niketas Triphyilios patrikios 124.24,
125.4

Niketas Xylinites patrikios 121.14
Niketas Xylinites epi tes trapezes,
oikonomos in St Sophia 132.13

Nile river 29.2 (Geon), 36.2; cf. 29.1
(‘the river of the Ethiopians’)
Nineveh city 32.4
Ninos Assyrian king 28.3,4, 32.4,
36.7

Nisibis city 91.3

Nizaros Arab, descendant of Ishmael
109.11

Nizizios (Mizizios) Armenian
pretender to the Byzantine
throne 112.7,113.1

Noah biblical person 24.10, 25.1, 3, 4,
5, 26.7,27.1-4, 28.1,29.1,30.1,
31, 32.1,2, 37.3, 14,42.20
Noema biblical person 24.1
Nomios (or Nothos) see Darius son of
Xerxes

Novation (Nauatos) presbyteros 77.2
Novels law collection by Justinian I
104.2

Numerianus emperor 84.2, 85
Numidia land/region 29.1
Nun see Joshua son of Nun

Oaton the ‘Egg-chamber’ in the Great
Palace 102.5

(the) Ocean Atlantic Ocean 88.8
Ochos see Artaxerxes Ochos
Ochozias (Ahaziah) biblical person
42.5, 6, 7

Ochozias biblical person, king of
Samaria 44.8

Octavian see Augustus Caesar
Odoaker king of the Goths 99.11
Ogygian of the flood during Ogyges
36.7

Oiniates strategos in the Peloponnese
132.20

Olda see Heliba

Olybrios Roman nobleman 130.42
Olympias daughter of Seleukos, a
former eparchos 96.2

280

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Olympos mountain in Bithynia
136.43, 59

Onias biblical person 47.9
Onomagoulos see Basil
Onomagoulos

Ooryfas hyparchos in C/pie 131.29
Opsikion thema 122.3,130.31, 131.42,
133.32,136.10, 56, 64
Origenes theologian and writer 66.3,
69.3, 70.3, 73.3
Orpheus mythical poet 37.9
Osee, son of Ila biblical person 44.19,
20

Osee see Hosea

Otho emperor 55.2, 3, 56

Oxeia island close to C/ple 121.11,

130.10

Ozias (Uzziah) or Zacharias biblical
person 42.9, 10

Paionia land/region 61.2, 88.2
Paiper(t) fortress in Anatolia 136.26
Palatine hill in C/ple 134.7
Palestine land/region 48.2, 58.2,
109.3,12, 130.37
Pallas Athena goddess 37.5
Pamphilos spiritual father of Eusebius

88.10

Pamphylia land/region 29.2
Paneas city (Caesarea Philippi) 90.2,
98.3

Pankratoukas the Armenian who

betrayed Adrianople to Symeon
the Bulgarian 135.16
Pantherios patrikios, domestikos,
relative of Romanos I 136.76
Pantoleon metropolitan 133.61
Paphlagonia land/region 30.1, 130.29,
135.9

Paphlagonians people 130.3
Paraion location at the Marmara Sea
133.40

Pardos droungarios of the vigla, son
of Nikolaos hetaireiarches
133.22, 27

Parthians people 88.13
Parysatis Persian queen 46.14
Paschal ios protospatharios, strategos
in Lombardy 136.78
Paspalas strategos in Samos 133.12
Patmos island 60.3
Paul, apostle 50.11, 54.5; cf. 105.3
(Church of the Holy Apostles
Peter and Paul in C/ple)

Paul the Confessor bishop/patriarch
'of C/ple 89.3,6, 95.9 (also on
St Paul’s Church in C/ple as his
burial site) 95.9

Paul IV patriarch of C/ple 123.6,

124.7

Paul monk and astronomer 114.6
Paul envoy of Leo III 121.13
Paul koitonites 131.54
Paul sakellarios 132.11
Paul orphanotrophos 136.14
Paul manglabites 136.15
Paul the Leper, monastery of in
Alexandria 99.9

Paulinos friend of Theodosios II 97.1,
2

Pearl (Hall) Margarites triklinos, in
the Great Palace of C/ple 130.2,
132.24

Pegai site(s) near C/ple 133.6 (palace
at Pegai), 22 (city at southern
shore of the Marmara Sea (?)),
136.19 (probably for Pege outside
the City Walls), 20 (see previous ),
49 (landing stage in the sea of
uncertain location); cf. Pege
Pege outside the Theodosian City
Walls of C/ple, site of church
of the Most Holy Mother of
God (Church of St Mary of the

INDEX OF NAMES

281

Life-Giving Spring: Zoodochos
Pege) 136.31,49; cf. Pegai
Peirinthos city in Thrace 84.2
Pelagios patrikios, former
selentiarios 101.3
Pelagios part of C/ple 122.8
Pellene the Peloponnese 30.1
Peloponnese peninsula 30.1,132.20
Pentapolis biblical cities 33.7
Pentapyrgion display cabinet in the
Great Palace in C/ple 130.9
Perama part of C/ple 131.52
Perozes Persian 101.7
Persia land/region/empire 27.4,28.1,

85.1, 109.3, 5, 6, 9
Persians people 32.4,46.1,13, 18,

19,47.1,73.2,76.2, 80.2, 86.2,

87.1, 88.4, 8,13, 89.2, 4, 90.3,

6, 91.2, 3, 97.5, 101.7,104.10,

16, 106.4, 107.1,12, 109.6, 8,
130.8,27,29, 43,131.50, 52,
132.2

Pertinax emperor 67
Petchenegs people 135.14,21,22
Peter apostle 53.4-6, 54.5; cf. 105.3
(Church of the Holy Apostles
Peter and Paul in C/ple)

Peter son of Symeon the Bulgarian
136.45, 47-49, 51, 60, 67
Peter strategos 107.11
Peter martyr under Constantine V
122.9

Peter magistros 124.5, 11
Peter hyparchos 136.64
Peter the Bulgarian participant in the
murder of Caesar Bardas 131.35,
50

Peter Ptochomagistros person

mentioned in anecdote together
with emperor Theophilos
131.27

Petra see (St) Euphemia-

Petrion see (St) Euphemia
Petronas droungarios of the vigla,
strategos of Anatolia, brother of
the empress Theodora 130.10,

15, 43, 131.26, 132.1
Petronas supporter of Romanos I
136.25

Phakee biblical person 44.18, 19
Phalek biblical person 26.7,27.1,2,

32.1, 33.5

Phaleron see Demetrios from Ph.
Phalkias biblical person 44.17, 18
Pharaoh ruler of Egypt 35.1,4
Pharathonite (Phraathonite) see Abdon
Pharos in C/ple 131.44 (of palace at
Ph.), 136.1 (of church at Ph.),
136.72

Phasailos son of Antipater from
Askalon 48.3

Phidias ancient sculptor 88.7
Philadelphos see Ptolemy
Philadelphos

Philip brother of Alexander the
Great 47.2
Philip emperor 76
Philip one of the Seven Deacons
52.4

Philip eparchos 75.1
(St) Philip monastery 102.3
Philippikos Bardanes emperor 117.5,
118

Philippikos brother-in-law of emperor
Maurice 107.1 (on monastery in
Chrysopolis bearing his name),

6, 8,108.4,131.54 (Philippikos
monastery in Chrysopolis as
burial site of Michael III)
Philippikos son of Nikephoros the
patrikios 116.2

Philippoupolis city in Syria 76.1
Philipppupolis city in Thrace 88.2
Philometor see Ptolemy Philometor

282

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Philopation place outside C/ple, with
palace and garden complex 132.2
Philopator see Ptolemy Philopator
Philotheos protospatharios and
genikos 131.36

Philotheos son of the hyparchos
Lampoudes 135.8
Phoenicia land/region 28.1
Phoinike Phoinix in Lycia 112.3 (cf.

119.4 n.)

Phoinix probably Fenaket near Rhodes

119.4

Phokas emperor 107.7, 8, 11,12, 108,
109.1

(Bardas) Phokas see Bardas
(Leo) Phokas see Leo
(Nikephoros) Phokas see Nikephoros
Phoroneus mythical king 36.7
Photeinos son of Platypodes, killed in
battle with the Bulgarians 136.20
Photinos who expulsed emperor
Phokas from the throne 108.8
Photios patriarch of C/ple 131.28,30,
34, 39, 40,132.5,16,19, 21, 24,
133.1, 3, 6-10, 136.83
Phoua biblical person 37.6
Phrygia land/region 29.2 (‘Phrygia...

Bithynia, the old Phrygia’), 42.14
Physkon see Ptolemy Physkon
Pikos another name for Zeus 28.2,
36.7

Pikridion monastery 133.34
Pilate who judged Christ 51.2,86.5
Pisidia land 29.2
Placidia wife of emperor Honorios
95.6

Placilla wife of Theodosios I 95.1, 10
Plate island close to C/ple 127.4
(possibly referred to here: cf.
Prote)

Plateia Petra fortress in Asia Minor
136.65

Plato ancient philosopher 46.14
Plato hegoumenos of the Sakoudion
monastery 124.18
Platypodes see Photeinos, son of P.
Poem of Gold work by Heliodoros
95.9

Polyeuktos patriarch of C/ple 136.83
(St) Polyeuktos church 132.4
Pompeiopolis city in Moesia 103.6
Pompey the Great 47.9
Pontos see Black Sea
Porphyra chamber in the Great
Palace of C/ple 124.20
Porphyrios ancient philosopher
67.2

Poseos eparchos of C/ple 99.10
Pothos Argyros domestikos 136.17,
19,20

Poulcheria sister of Michael III
131.21; cf. 131.54,133.2
Prinkipos island close to C/ple 105.3
(of suburban estate and palace
there), 125.2 (of monastery), 7
(of monastery)

Priskos son-in-law of emperor
Maurice 107.4
Probos martyr 105.4
Probus emperor 83, 84
Prohairesios sophist 92.9
Pro(i)kon(n)esos Marmara island
121.12, 137.5

Proklos patriarch of C/ple 97.9,12
Proklos philosopher 102.2
Prokopia wife of Michael I 127.2,4,
131.8

Prokopios from Caesarea, historian
104.13

Prokopios stratelates 97.5
Prokopios protovestiarios 131.35,
132.9, 20

Prometheus who brought fire to
mankind 37.2

INDEX OF NAMES

283

Prote island close to C/ple 125.5,

127.4 (possibly Plate), 128.13,
136.83, 84,137.5, 6, 8
Psamathia part of C/ple 134.2 (site
of monastery in which patriarch
Euthymios is buried)

Psichai part of C/ple with monastery
dedicated to the Virgin 136.61
Ptolemy I, son of Lagos king of Egypt
47.2, 3

Ptolemy II Philadelphos king of
Egypt 47.4, 5

Ptolemy III Euergetes king of Egypt
47.5, 6

Ptolemy IV Philopator, son of

Euergetes king of Egypt 47.6, 7
Ptolemy V Epiphanes, son of

Philopator king of Egypt 47.7,

Ptolemy VI Philometor, son of

Epiphanes king of Egypt 47.8
Ptolemy VIII (VII?) Euergetes,

brother of Philometor king of
Egypt 47.10

Ptolemy IX (VIII?) Physkon king of
Egypt 47.10

Ptolemy X (?) Alexas king of Egypt
47.10

Ptolemy XI (?) Deuteros Soter king of
Egypt 47.10

Ptolemy XII Neos Dionys(i)os king
of Egypt 47.10, 11
Ptolemy XIII king of Egypt 47.11
Pulcheria augusta, sister of

Theodosios II 97.1, 7, 8, 11, 12,
98.1, 3

Pythagoras ancient philosopher 46.6
Pythia oracle at Delphi 50.7

(also about Pythian priest as
interpreter of the oracle)

Pythia therma baths at the Marmara
Sea 88.8

Rabdos place of residence of Leo
Katakalon 133.21

Rabdouchos strategos in Dyrrhachium
132.20

Rachel biblical person 34.3, 5
Ra(n)gabe see Michael Ra(n)gabe
Ragau biblical person 27.1,32.1,2
Ragouel biblical person 35.5
Ravenna city 95.6
Rebecca biblical person 34.2, 8, 9
Rehoboam (Roboam) biblical person
40.4, 41.1,2,42.1,43.2-4, 44.1
Remus see Romos

Rentakios protovestiarios 131.39,47,
49

Rentakios relative of Niketas the
patrikios 136.16
Repentance ((Ta) Metanoias)
monastery in C/ple 130.42
Reuben (Roubim) biblical person

34.3

Rhea, or Semiramis mother of Zeus,
ruler of the Assyrians 28.2, 3,

32.4

Rhodes island 30.2, 112.3,137.5
Rhodian see Basil the Rhodian
Rhodios notarios of Samonas 133.60
Rinokoroura land/region 27.4
Rodanos praipositos 92.4
Rodophylles koubikoularios 133.41
Romania land of the Byzantines

119.2, 121.18,130.20, 27,131.4,

11, 26,133.15, 57,58
Romanos I Lekapenos emperor
132.7,23,133.62, 135.21, 22,
24-26,29, 30, 136, 137; about
his monastery: 136.21,25, 62,

137.8

Romanos II (future) emperor, son of
Constantine VII 136.76, 78
Romanos Argyros military man
135.19

284

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

285

Romans people 132.5 (of bishops

under the jurisdiction of the pope
in Rome), 136.33 (language of
the Romans, i.e. Greek)

Rome city 42.11, 48.5, 50.2, 9, 51.2,
54.5, 58.2, 60.2, 61.3, 62.1, 65.2,

66.1, 73.1, 87.2,3, 88.1, 2, 7,12,

94.1, 95.2, 4, 6, 96.1,99.1,11,
112.4, 6, 121.9,18, 124.9, 130.42,
132.5,136.66

Romelios biblical person 44.18
Romos (Remus) co-founder of Rome
42.11

Romulus founder of Rome 42.11, 13,

54.1, 99.11

Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of
the West 99.11

Rufinus magister officiorum 95.10 n.
Russians people 131.29, 30,

136.71-75

Sabellios heresiarch 78.2
Sadok biblical person 39.2, 40.3
Sagaros river 104.13,136.81
Saitos Sasanian commander 109.5
Sakoudion monastery in Bithynia
124.18

Saktikes military man 136.23-24
Sala biblical person 26.2-5
Salame biblical person 40.3,41.4
Salathiel biblical person 46.2
Salem city to which Jacob came 34.4
Salmanasar Assyrian king 42.12,
44.19,20

Sallustius soothsayer 92.3
Salome biblical person 50.11
Samanei biblical person 37.11
Samaria land/region 41.3,4, 42.12,

43.1, 44.1, 3, 6, 10,19, 20
Samaritans people 44.19; cf.

Menander, sorcerer from
Samaria (i.e. the Samaritan)

Sameas biblical person 40.3,41.4,

42.17

Samonas protospatharios, patrikios,
parakoimomenos 133.25-27,28,
37,42, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 56,
58, 60, 61

Samos island 42.15,133.12, 62
Samosata city on the Euphrates 130.23
Samothrake island 137.5
Samson biblical person 37.10
Samuel biblical person 37.13,14, 38.1,
2, 3, 39.1, 96.2 (on his church at
Hebdomon as burial site of his
bodily remains)

Saphat see Jous son of Safat
Saracens people 33.6, 102.4,109.10,
120.2,121.10, 13, 122.5,125.6,
131.3, 133.55, 56
Sarapion mathematician 70.2
Sarbaros Sasanian commander 109.5,

Sardeis city (of Euthymios) 128.6
Sardinia island 29.2
Sarira biblical person 43.4
Sarmatia land/region 30.1
Sarmatians people 65.3, 92.6
Sarra biblical person 32.5, 33.4
Sasanians people 101.7 n.

Satorninus heresiarch 63.5
Satyr site near C/ple 126.4 (monastery,
burial site of emperor
Staurakios), 132.8 (emporion (of
Sator), location of church built by
patriarch Ignatios)

Sauas biblical person 24.1

Saul king of Israel 38.1, 2, 3, 39.1, 3,

4, 42.20,44.20

Sclavonia, Sclavs, etc. see Slavs
Scythia land/region 30.1
Scythians northern peoples 30.3,

93.2, 94.1, 95.2,102.2,107.4,
117.5 (Chazars?), 121.17

(Chazars); probably of Goths:
77.1, 78.1, 79.1,'81.2, 88.2,113.5
(‘Scythians ... in the West’)
(Lord) Sebaoth God 121.8
Sebastopolis city 114.2
Sedekias (Zedekiah) biblical person,
son of Canaan (Chenaanah) 42.3
Sedekias or Manthanias Jewish king
42.19, 45.1-3, 4, 6, 7, 8
Segour biblical person 44.7
Sela biblical person 24.1
Seleim biblical person 42.15
Selene daughter of Cleopatra 50.2; of
the moon 24.6

Seleukos Nikator king of Syria 47.2
Seleukos former eparchos 96.2
Seloum biblical person 44.15, 16
Selymbria city 122.18
Sem biblical person 24.10, 25.3,4,
26.1,27.1-4, 28.1,2,31,32.1
Semiramis or Rhea Assyrian queen,
(as Rhea) wife of Zeus 28.2,

32.4, 36.7

Senacherim (Sennacherib) Assyrian
king 128.2 (Krum as a new S.)
Sepphora biblical person 35.5
Septimius Severus emperor 69, 70.1,
85.1

Sergios patriarch of C/ple 109.1, 6, 7,
15, 16

Sergios strategos in Sicily 121.13
Sergios monk, brother of the

magistros Kosmas, relative of
patriarch Photios 136.83
Serouch biblical person 32.2, 3
Seth biblical person 24.3, 5-7
Severos the Acephalite patriarch of
Antioch, monophysite 102.3,4,
104.7

Sgora at the eastern shore (of the
Black Sea?) 136.72
Shapur I Sasanian king 76.2, 80.2

Shapurll Sasanian king 88.4, 13
Shapur in a generical sense for
Sasanian king (?) 86.2 (i.e.
Narseh)

Shechem (Sychem) biblical person
34.5

Sibyl, the Cumaean oracle 42.8
Sibyl, the Erythraean oracle 42.12
Sibyl oracle in Samos 42.15
Sicilians inhabitants of island 121.13,
130.11

Sicily island 30.2, 112.6,7, 113.1,
121.13, 124.17, 129.5, 130.11, 12,
132.20, 133.34, 41
Sidon city 36.5

Sidonians inhabitants of city 44.7
Sidos biblical person 36.5
Sigma (probably different) locations)
in C/ple 125.3, 130.36, 132.4
Sikima city 34.4,43.2
Silonite see Achiam
Silvester pope in Rome 88.1
Simeon (Symeon) biblical person

34.3, 5, 37.1

Similos friend of emperor Hadrian
63.3

Simon Magus enemy of the Church

52.4, 53.5, 62.4, 128.5 (patriarch
John grammatikos as another
Simon)

Sinapes palatial cleric 133.23
Sinope city 117.5,130.29,131.24
Sirach see Jesus Sirach
Siricha location to which Samonas
fled 133.42,43
Sirius see Dog Star
Sisinios patriarch of C/ple 97.9
Sisinios patrikios, strategos 121.5
Sisinios Triphyllios participant in
rebellion against empress Irene
124.24

Skirtos river 103.11

286

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

Slavs people 107.11 (ravliddpmv
X<bpa), 114.2, 3, 122.8 (Niketas
the Slav (XicXdPog)), 123.6,
1.24.6, 134.4 (Basilitzes the Slav
(cL7td ~KAu(iiv(Dv sOvoug))
Smyrna city 97.13
Socrates ancient philosopher 46.10
Sogdianos Persian king 46.12, 13
Solomon king of Israel 39.6, 40 1-5

41.1,42.12,43.2,3,48.4,63.2;’

cf. 132.14 (statue of Solomon in
C/ple)

Solomon strategos 104.11
Sophia augusta, wife of Justin II

105.1, 3, 6 , 7, 106.2, 107.10
Sophia wife of emperor Christopher

136.21

(St) Sophia (Great Church, Church
of the Holy Wisdom of God,
etc.) main church of C/ple 88 5
89.7, 97.2, 102.3, 104.5-8, 105.1,’

109.1, 6 , 114.7, 118.3, 121.8,

123.4, 127.2, 129.3, 130.14,40,

41, 131.27,132.3, 5, 9,13,133.3,
47, 49, 58, 60, 63,135.8, 136.16,
22, 38, 81

Sophia harbour in C/ple 105.6, 108.7
Sophianai palace in C/ple 105.3,

122 . 11 , 123.5,133.5 (Sophi(an)ai:
possibly the same palace, or

another place altogether)

Sophocles tragic poet 37.5
Sophonias biblical person 42.15
(St) Soros (St Mary) church at

Blachernai 133.22, 136.24, 32;
see also Most Holy Mother of ’

God (church) at Blachernai
Sostheneion location at the Bosphorus
(cf. Anaplous) 88.10
Soter (the Saviour) see Ptolemy II
Soudee Arab military commander
130.32

Souleiman protosymboulos 121.10
Sousakeim biblical person 44.1
Spain land/region 94.1
(Ta) Speira monastery of Samonas
133.42, 60

Sphendatis Median magus 46.5, 6
Sphendon(e) part of the hippodrome in
C/ple 92.4, 114.7, 130.6, 131.23
133.37,135.8

Staurakios emperor 125.8,126
Staurakios logothete 124.5,6,11,23
Staurakios protospatharios 124.13
Staurakios Helladikos merchant
133.15, 24

Staurion part of C/ple 107.2
Stenon Bosphorus strait at C/ple
122.11, 131.2, 134.2,136.19,20
74

(St) Stephen the Protomartyr 97.3
(on translation of his bodily
remains)

Stephen son of Basil I, synkellos,
patriarch of C/ple 132 3 133 l
3, 14 ’ ' ’

Stephen son of Romanos I 136.38 68
81, 84, 137.4, 5, 7

Stephen metropolitan of Amaseia,
patriarch of C/ple 136.41, 49 , 55
Stephen sakellarios and proteu-
nouchos 114.4, 7
Stephen St Stephen the Younger,
killed by Constantine V 122.9
Stephen son of Constantine Doukas
135.9

Stephen Bulgarian envoy 136.47
Stephen of Kalomaria magistros

133.6-8, 10 ; perhaps the same as
following:

Stephen magistros 134.9, 135.2, 11
22, 26, 30; perhaps the same as:
Stephen of Kalomaria magistros
136.14

INDEX OF NAMES

287

(St) Stephen church in the Great
Palace of C/ple 101.6,109.1

’ 2 ^ 15 ’ 130 - 4 - 131.6 ((St) Stephen
at Daphne)

Stone Heifer statue in Chrysopolis
135.9, 136.5

Stoudios Flavius Studius, founder of
monastery 99.8

Stoudios monastery 102.3, 128.6 7
133.24,34,135.8

Stoupiotes (or Sty P (p)i ot es) Kesta
Stoupiotes, domestikos of the
scholai 132.25

Strobelos fortified island, scene of

135 17 a8a ' nSt the ArabS ^ 924
Strongylon fortress, scene of death of
Constantine V 122.18
Stylianos Zaoutzes father of Zoe
Zaoutzina 132.24 (mikros
hetaireiarches), 133.3 {magistros
and logothetes tou dromou), 13
( basileopator ), 15, 22, 23 24 25
27,31 ’ ’ ’

Stypiotes participant in the rebellion
of Basil Epiktes 13^.27
Sychem see Shechem
Sydima (Sidyma) city 98.5
Sykai Galata at C/ple 115.5; c f.
monastery at S, in which
Stephanos the patriarch was
buried 133.3
Sylaion city 122.7
Symbatios the Armenian patrikios,
logothetes tou dromou 131 33
35,40,42,43

Symbatios brother of Basil I 131.50
Symbatios see Leo, son of S.

Symeon Bulgarian leader 13111
133.35-21, 134.8, 135.10,'ll’ 14
fo, 18,136.19, 27,29-37, 45 ’, 46,

Symeon, son of Cleopas martyr

62.4

Symeon bishop of Ctesiphon 8813
Symeon strategos at Cherson 133 21
Symeon patrikios, asekretis,
protasekretis 133.41
Symeon epi tou kanikleiou 136 6
Symeon brother of Theodore the tutor

136.10

Symeon Zouphinezer (to be promoted
0 the rank of) hetaireiarches
135.28

Symmachus translator of the Old
Testament, theologian 13 7
67.2

Syracusans inhabitants of the city

Syracuse city 112 . 6 , 7 , 132.12
Syria Iand/region 47.2, 50.2, 93,2
113.3,4, 116.1, 122.5, 1294 ’
130.16,33, 132.17, 133.43, 44
55-57, 135.18

Syrians people 89.8 (St Ephraim

the Syrian), 109.16 (Sergios the

Syrian), 122.5
Syrtis land/region 29.1

Tacitus emperor 83, 84.2
Taormina city 133.34
Tarasios asekretis, patriarch of C/ple
124.8-10, 18, 125.1, 9; cf. 133.60
(monastery of)

Taraxos martyr 105.4
Tarsos city in Cilicia 30.3 90 3
124.15, 132.25, 133.58
Tatzates Armenian 136.26
Taurianis land/region 30.1
Tauros mountain range 89.4
Teiresias ancient soothsayer 37.5
Telerichos Bulgarian leader 122.17
{see also 122.16)

Tenedos island 42.12, 1375

288

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

289

Terbelis Bulgarian leader 116.4,117.1,
121.14

Terentios martyr 95.4
Thales from Miletos ancient
philosopher 42.12
Thamnes biblical person 44.6
Tharra biblical person 32.4, 5
Tharron biblical person 30.3
Tharseis people descended from
Tharron 30.3

Thebais (Thebaid) region in Egypt
29.1

Thebans people from (Egyptian)
Thebes/Thebais 32.4
Thebes city in Greece 37.5
Theglaphalasar Assyrian king 44.18
Thekla sister of Michael III 131.21,

32, 132.9 (said to be sister of
Basil I)

Theodektos tragical poet 47.4
Theodora wife of Constantine I
Chlorus 86.1

Theodora wife of Justinian I 104.7
Theodora wife of Justinian II 116.3,
117.3

Theodora augusta, wife of Theophilos
130.3,4, 8, 30,39, 131.1-6, 16,

18, 20, 21, 47, 54

Theodora wife of Romanos I 136.11,21
(St) Theodora, palace of in C/ple
136.23

(St) Theodore Theodoras Stratelates,
martyr 88.3; cf. 121.4 (Church of)
Theodore from Stoudios hegoumenos,
defender of images 128.6, 7
Theodore Graptos defender of images
130.37-39

Theodore tutor of Constantine VII
135.24, 26, 30, 136.10
Theodore the Bulgarian intimate of
Symeon 133.20; perhaps the
same as:

Theodore magistros at the court of
Symeon the Bulgarian 135.11
Theodore Gozouniates first husband
of Zoe Zaoutzina 133.13
Theodore Kamoulianos patrikios

124.11

Theodore Krateros protospatharios,
eunuch 130.33

Theodore Krithinos archbishop
130.12-14

Theodore Matzoukes helper of
Romanos I 135.29
Theodore Myakes patrikios 118.3,
119.1

Theodore of Santabaris/the
Santabarene archbishop
ofEuchaita 132.21,23,25,
133.6-10

Theodore Zoufinezer relative of John
Garidas 135.28
Theodoretos koitonites 136.18
Theodosios I emperor 94.1,2, 95,
101.8

Theodosios II emperor 97, 98.1
Theodosios III emperor 119.4,6,7,
120

Theodosios son of emperor Maurice
(acc. to text: son of Phokas)

107.12

Theodosios patrikios, protovestiarios
133.21

Theodosios Aboukes monk 136.47
Theodosioupolis city 122.5
Theodote koubikoularia, wife of

Constantine VI 124.18 (see also
§ 20 with n.)

Theodotos genikos 114.7
Theodotos protokaravos 136.18
Theodotos Kassiteras patriarch of
C/ple 128.3, 7

Theokletos notarios of the hypourgia
136.9, 18

Theokritos throne pretender 103.3
Theoktistos logothete 131.2-6, 19,

20,22

Theophanes magistros 122.3
Theophanes papias 123.7
Theophanes protothronos 133.3
Theophanes teichiotes, supporter of
Romanos I 136.14
Theophanes protovestiarios,
paradynasteuon, patrikios,
parakoimomenos 136.43, 48, 49,
51, 69, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 137.6
Theophanes Graptos defender of
images, poet, metropolitan of
Nicaea 130.37-39
Theophanes Pharganes (Phalganes)
protospatharios 131.4, 19, 20
Theophano wife of Staurakios 126.3,
4

Theophano first wife of Leo VI

132.22, 133.22, 23; cf. Church of
St Theophano 133.33
Theophano (Theophanu) wife of
Constantine son of Romanos I
136.70

Theophilitzes komes of the Wall,
member of the noumera 131.7,

Theophilos emperor 129.3, 6, 130,
131.2, 10, 13,133.55
Theophilos patriarch of Alexandria
96.2

Theophilos patrikios 130.33
Theophilos hospice in C/ple 130.42
Theophobia (‘Fear of God’) monastery
burial place of Theophobos the
Persian 130.44

Theophobos the Persian military
commander, patrikios, etc.

130.8,29, 43,44

Theophylaktos son of Michael I
127.2,4

Theophylaktos son of Romanos I,

patriarch of C/ple 136.38,56,63,
66, 81, 83, 137.6

Theophylaktos patrikios, komes of the
stables 136.10

Theophylaktos Abastaktos father of
Romanos I 132.7
Theophylaktos Domenikos
hetaireiarches 135.13
Theopompos historian 47.4
Theotecnus writer of book about
Christ 86.5

Ther see Wild Beast River
Thera mythical founding father of the
Thracians (sic) 30.3
Thermopolis city in Thrace (Aquae
Calidae/Burgas) 136.17
Thermoutheis Pharaoh’s daughter,
who found Moses 35.4
Thersa site of the palace of king
Jeroboam 41.3,44.16
Thessalia land/region 30.1, 37.4,

46.15

Thessalonica city 88.3,95.10, 112.3,
119.1,6,130.35, 131.11, 133.15,
40,41

Thobel biblical person 24.1, 30.3
Thobelians descendants of Thobel
30.3

Thola biblical person 37.6
Thomaitis hall in the patriarchate in
C/ple 124.14

(St) Thomas apostle; on his church:
99.2,103.3, 133.5; on St Thomas’
day: 133.53

Thomas the Slav 129.4, 5
Thomas patrikios, son of

Constantine the Armenian
131.46

Thomas presbyteros 133.49
Thomas primikerios 137.6
Thourras biblical person 28.4

290

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF NAMES

291

Thrace land/region 30.1, 63.2, 69.2
(Thracian Gate of the City Walls
of C/ple), 88.2, 8, 93.2, 94.1,

96.1.101.1.105.5.107.3, 108.4,
109.4, 7, 118.3,119.6, 121.10, 12,

122.3, 5,124.6,129.4, 131.18,
135.14, 18,19, 23, 136.29, 37,
69,75

Thracians people 30.3, 102.2, 103.1
Thrakesion thema 131.35, 136.44
Tiberios Tiberius I (II), Byzantine
emperor 105.5, 7, 106
Tiberios (Apsimaros) Tiberios II,

Byzantine emperor 115.3, 5,116,

117.2

Tiberios brother of Constantine IV

113.2

Tiberios son of Justinian II and
Theodora 117.3

Tiberius ancient Roman emperor 51
Tibrike (Tephrike) fortress in
Cappadocia 132.7

Tigris river 30.2; see also Wild Beast
River

Timotheos apostle 60.3, 88.7
Tiridates Sasanian king 88.13
Titus emperor 58.2, 4, 59
Topoi part of C/ple 133.33
Tornik(i)oi Byzantine family clan
137.4

Trajan emperor 61.2, 62, 63.1, 85.1
Trajanopolis city in Thrace 62.2
Trikonchos part of the Great Palace of
C/ple 130.36,136.18
Trinke city in Thessaly (Trikkala)

95.9

Triphyllioi see Niketas and Sisinios T.
Tripoli see Leo from Tripoli
Troas region of Troy 29.2
Troullos house outside C/ple 130.26
Tryphon patriarch of C/ple 136.56, 63
(monastery of)

Turks people 109.6,125.5 (Bardanes,
named ‘the Turk’), 131.11, 12,
133.17-19,136.69, 77
Tyros city in Phoenicia 46.19
Tzantzes strategos of Macedonia
131.11, 13

Tzantzes son of Stylianos Zaoutzes
133.22

Tzerithon see Michael Tzerithon

Ur city of the Chaldeans 32.3, 33.2
Uriah (Ourias) biblical person 42.11,

Urvicius palace eunuch 101.9
Usthaxades Persian eunuch, teacher of
Shapur 88.13
Uzziah see Ozias

Vaktangios patrikios 122.3
Valdimer Vladimir, Bulgarian leader
131.11

Valens emperor 92.2, 93; cf. 105.8
(aqueduct of V.)

Valentinian emperor 92, 94.1
Valeria wife of caesar Galerius 86.1
Valerian emperor 80
(Lake) Van in Eastern Anatolia 124.5
Vandals people 97.12, 104.11
Varna city on the Black Sea, site of
Bulgarian settlement 113.6
Vasoes dromeus 130.33
Verina wife of Leo I 101.1, 9
Verus Lucius Verus, co-emperor of
Marcus Aurelius 65.1, 85.1
(Flavius) Vespasian emperor 52.2,

54.6, 56.3, 58

Vitalianos the Thracian stratelates,

rebel against emperor Anastasios

102.2,103.2

Vitellius emperor 56.2, 3, 57
Vittiges king of the Ostrogoths 104.16
Volusianus emperor 77.1, 78

Wild Beast River (Ther) river Tigris
90.6

Xerolophos area (hill) of C/ple 96.1,
121.18

Xerxes son of Darius Persian king

46.7, 9

Xerxes son of Artaxerxes Persian king
46.11, 13

Xiphias (Halley’s) comet 134.5

Xylokerkos Gate in the City Walls of
C/ple 136.25

Yarmouk place of battle 108.14

Yathrib place of origin of the prophet
Muhammed (Medina) 109.10, 12

Yezid Umayyad caliph Yazid b. Abd
al-Malik (?) 121.2,3

Zaboulonite see Eglom the
Zaboulonite

Zacharias, son of Jodae biblical
person, prophet 42.6, 7

Zacharias biblical person, king of
Samaria 44.14, 15

Zacharias patriarch of Jerusalem
109.3

Zacharias see Ozias or Zacharias

Zacharias see Zechariah
Zagoria land given to the Bulgarians
by Justinian II 117.1
Zakynthos island 30.2
Zambre biblical person, king of Israel/
Samaria, successor of Ila 42.6,
44.5, 6

Zambre biblical person, king of

Samaria, father of Ahab 44.6, 7
Zapetra city close to Samosata 130.23
Zebedee see James son of Zebedee
Zebulun (Zaboulon) biblical person
34.3

Zechariah (Zacharias), son of Addo
(Iddo) biblical person, prophet

42.7, 46.2, 121.8
Zeno emperor 100, 101
Zeus planet, man/god 24.6 (planet),
28.2, 28.3, 5, 32.4, 36.7, 54.3,
63.4, 90.2, 99.7

Zeuxippos bath in C/ple 69.2,118.3
Zilpah (Zelpha) biblical person 34.3
Zoe Carbonopsina fourth wife of Leo
VI 133.10, 37, 39,47,49, 60,
135.1,12, 13,16, 18,26, 27, 136.9
Zoe Zaoutzina second wife of Leo VI
133.13, 22, 23, 25, 27, 31
Zorobabel biblical person 46.2

INDEX OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS

293

INDEX OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Acephalites, Acephalite heresy 101.4,

102.1, 3

ambo 102.3,122.3, 7,123.4, 127.2,
131.39, 132.4, 133.3, 36
Annunciation (of the Most Holy

Mother of God ( Euangelismos)),
day of 131.34, 135.30
anthypatos 136.39
apelates 131.50, 132.2
apo eparchon see eparchos
Arians, Arianism 89.5, 93.2, 94.4,
95.8, 99.1,102.11,12
asekreteia 131.20
asekretis 124.8 ( apo asekretori),

131.39,40, 41,133.41,135.4, 9;
cf. protasekretis

augusta 96.2,106.2, 108.1, 109.1,
124.18 n., 24,130.8, 10,43,
131.3, 5, 6,19, 20,132.3,13,

133.23, 31, 49, 60, 135.13, 14,

22, 26, 27, 136.9; cf. augustus

50.1 (Auyoucrcoi;), 87.1 n., 2
(aspaoro^), 90.1 n., 96.1 n.,

106.1 n.

hasileopator title of Arsenios 95.4;
ofStylianos Zaoutzes 133.13,

15, 24; of Romanos I 136.3,

5,7

bireme 119.1

blue ((colour of) party/faction in the
hippodrome ( yenetoi )) 105.2,

130.24, 131.46

caesar (junior emperor) 75.1, 86.1,

87.1, 89.2, 3, 90.1,105.5, 7,

106.4,122.15,123.4,124.2,17,
131.19 (Caesar Bardas), 23, 25
(Caesar Bardas), 28 (Caesar
Bardas), 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37,

40 (Caesar Bardas), 42,133.43
(Caesar Bardas), 136.11, 60; see
also Index of names s.vv. (Gaius
Iulius) Caesar and (Octavian)
Augustus Caesar

Chagan (leader of the Avars) 107.3,

4, 109.4,113.5,116.3,121.17,
122.6

chamberlain/chambermaid see
koubikoularios(-a)
chartiatika 125.11
chelandion 125.5
chlamys 131.40
chordapsos 122.4
Christmas 132.3, 133.3; cf. 104.8
(‘Birthday of Christ’), 124.2
(‘festival of Christ’s birth’),
128.10 (‘birthday of Our
Saviour’)

chrysobull 133.55, 136.5, 47,

80; cf. ‘written guarantee’

(enypographos logos) 130.13, 17,
18, 133.55, 136.6; see also 128.1
(‘guarantee in writing’), 136.2
(‘divine decree’) etc.
consul (see also under hypatos) 42.11,

48.1, 50.2, 9

deacon 119.3; cf. the Seven Deacons
of the early Church: 52.4, 62.4
demarch 131.39
demes etc. see factions
denarii 60.8

Diakinesimos (‘New Week’) 131.23
dikerata 121.18
divitision 131.40
domestikos (mostly (explicitly)
domestikos of the scholai)
130.22, 27, 131.22, 23, 132.25,
133.3, 6, 7, 8, 17,21, 54, 135.3,

18,19, 20,23, 28, 136.6, 8,

17, 26, 53, 74, 76, 137.2; cf.
domestikoi of the East and the
West 97.9; domestikos of the
hikanatoi 132.26
doux 85.2 (of Moesia), 130.11 (of
Sicily), 133.11 (exarchos and
doux of Lombardy)
dromeus 130.33

dromon 107.11,119.2,121.10,122.15,
133.17, 135.25, 136.6, 20, 47,49,
71,72

droungarios 130.33, 133.19,42; of the
vigla 124.12, 130.ip, 131.20, 46,
132.11, 133.22, 27,135.13,136.10,
137.2; of the fleet 115.3 (of the
Kibyrrhaiotai), 133.17, 19, 34, 40,

135.21,22,24, 25, 136.19, 20,28

Easter 107.10, 109.5,124.22, 131.23 n„
35, 136.3; cf. Palm Sunday
(Baiophoros) 123.3; Holy
Thursday (Megale Pempte)

123.3; Good Friday (Hagia
Paraskeue) 123.3; Great Sabbath
(Easter Saturday) 123.4, 133.38;
Easter Sunday 123.4; cf.

Passover 42.15
emir (Arab leader: usually
dpep(p)oi)pvfjq) caliph

al-Ma‘mun 130.17,18,19,20, 21,
23; caliph al-Mu‘tasim 130.32,
33, 34; caliph al-Muktafi (or
his naval commander) 133.54;
Damian of Tarsos 135.17
(dpipfig); Abu-Hafs ofMelitene
136.52 (dpripaq); cf. Amer: 131.4,
24, 26, 136.52

enypographos logos see chrysobull
eparchos 62.1, 75.1, 92.3, 96.2 (apo
eparchon), 97.13, 99.10,131.43,
132.1 n.; cf. hyparchos
Epiphany (Day of (feast of the

136.9 n, 136.43

eunuch 54.2, 88.13, 90.4, 97.12,

105.4 n., 113.1, 114.7, 122.8,
124.13,130.6 n., 33, 133.15, 33,
135.9, 13, 136.38, 41; cf. proteu-
nouchos 114.4 (see also 90.4);
see also 134.4 (on castration)
exarchos 133.11 (ofLombardy)
exkoubitoi 103.3 {homes of the

exkoubitof), 105.5 (komes of the
exkoubitoi), 128.10 ( tagma of the
exkoubitoi), 135.6, 19 (tagma of
the exkoubitoi)

factions/parties (in the hippodrome)
(‘factions’ as translation of
Sfjpoi) 105.2, 108.2, 130.24, 36;
cf. 131.39 (demes)\ (‘factions’
as translation of pepri) 106.2;
(‘people’ as translation of
5fjpo<;) 97.13, 108.5; cf. 130.24
(‘faction leader’: <p<XKT(0v&pr|q);
see also 136.79 (demes for
sections of the hippodrome:
5fjpoi); see also blue, green,
red, white

294

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS

295

foideratoi 97.5

Forefathers (Sunday of the) 136.11

Galilee (Day of) 136.3
genikon 132.11; cf. 114.7 n.
genikos 114.7, 124.24, 131.36
Greek fire (Median, liquid, prepared
fire) 102.2 (‘Median fire’), 113.3
('liquid fire’), 121.11 (‘liquid
fire’), 136.72 (‘prepared fire’)
green ((colour of) party/faction in the
hippodrome ( prasinoi )) 105.2,
118.3,131.46

hebdomarios 136.15 (or
hebdomadarios)

hegoumenos 102.3, 124.18, 128.6
heliakon 133.24, 135.26
heresiarch 62.4,63.5, 66.3
heresy, heretic(al) 52.4 n., 67.2,

69.3 n., 78.2, 82.3 n„ 101.4,

102.1, 3, 4, 7,109.12, 16, 112.4,

6, 121.8,16 n„ 122.5, 124.8,

128.5.129.2.130.6.7, 133.50
hetaireia 131.7,133.27,28 n., 135.6,

136.19

hetaireiarches 131.7, 12, 52, 132.24
(mikros hetaireiarches), 26,

133.22, 25,27,42,135.13, 23, 28,

136.1 (megas hetaireiarches), 3,

137.2 (megas hetaireiarches)
hikanatoi see domestikos and tagma
hippodrome/horse race, etc. 69.2,

88.7, 92.4 (ijiJto8popta), 97.13,
101.9,104.5 ( kathisma ), 11,

105.2, 106.2, 108.2 (horse races),
5 (horse races), 114.7, 117.2
{kathisma), 118.3, 122.2 (horse
races), 3 (horse races), 8 (horse
races), 123.4, 126.3, 128.2,130.6
{kathisma), 24, 131.6, 7, 26, 44,
46 (horse races), 132.26,133.37,
134.6, 135.4, 5, 8,136.79

Holy Communion 107.8
homoousios 89.5
Hypapante (feast) 103.5,104.6
hyparchos 95.10, 102.2, 3, 130.6, 38,
131.29, 44,132.1,135.8, 136.64;
cf. eparchos

hypateia see largesse; cf. procession
hypatos (cf. consul) hypatos 97.5,
120.3; cf. hypateia
hypodiakonos 136.38
hypourgia {notarioi of) 136.9, 18

icon(s) 107.7,108.7, 109.6,121.2,

8, 9,16 n., 122.3, 7, 9, 123.7,

124.8, 9, 10,128.6, 8, 9,130.7,
13, 25; cf. 49.4 (secular picture
or statue), 50.9 (secular picture
or statue), 87.4 (picture of
nail/Cross on coins), 99.7

(on depicting Christ), 121.6
(pictures of Christ); cf. image
of Christ

idikon 136.18 (imperial notarios of)
idols/idolatry/idolaters 88.5, 89.6,

121.8, 122.7, 134.6

(holy) image of Christ (sKpaysiov)
136.80, 81

indiction 131.45,135.16,20,136.12,
13, 14, 21, 29, 40, 45, 55, 62,

63, 66, 69, 70, 71, 75, 77, 78,

137.7, 8

Kampos see tribounalion
kanikleios/kanikles 131.2, 19, 133.60,
135.16; cf. 136.6 {epi tou
kanikleiou)
kastaldai 113.5
kastor 131.39, 41
katadike 135.8
kathisma see hippodrome
kentenaria 97.5

King of Kings (Armenian title fipxcov
xcov apxovxcov) 135.15

koitonites 131.7, 31,49, 54,133.24,

27, 60 {megistos koitonites),
136.18

komes 97.5 (of the foideratoi), 103.3
(of the exkoubitoi), 105.5 (of
the exkoubitof), 130.31 (of
the stables, of Opsikion),

131.7 (of the Wall), 11, 26, 42
(of Opsikion), 136.10 (of the
stables), 137.2 (of the stables)
koubikoularia 124.18
koubikoularios 105.4, 106.2,123.7,
133.25,41; cf. the emperor’s
private quarters (kouPoukLeTov)
133.27

kourator 130.42, 136.8
kouratoria 136.53
kouropalates 104.14, 122.3, 126.3,
131.17, 23, 136.22
kynegion see Index of names

largesse (hypateia) 104.1, 11,124.22,

131.23, 132.3

(Holy) Lent 131.2,133.63, 136.3, 19
litra 97.5 n., 127.1, 130.31, 133.41
logothete 102.3,124.5, 6,130.43,

131.2, 3, 4, 6, 20, 133.62, 134.7;
logothetes tou genikou 114.7 n.,
132.11; logothetes tou dromou
130.15, 131.33,42, 133.3, 52,
136.42

loros 130.9, 132.19

magister militum 96.6 n., 97.5 n.
magister officiorum 95.10 n. (perhaps
intended for hyparchos)
magistrianos 107.9
magistros 86.4, 101.9, 122.3, 124.5,

11, 130.11, 22,131.22, 133.3, 6,

7, 8, 22, 28, 60, 134.9, 135.2, 6,

8, 11, 13,18, 22,26, 30,136.1,8,
14,48, 54, 74, 76, 83, 137.2

maioumas 123.5

manglabites 131.38,136.15, 26;
cf. ‘corporal punishment’
{maglabia) 130.31, 131.44
metatorikion/mitatorion 133.49, 60
metochion 132.11
miliaresion 109.5, 121.18, 133.27
monostrategos 131.23
monothelete (heresy) 109.16,112.6
mystikos 133.29, 136.29, 39, 42, 43

New Week see Diakinesimos
nobelissimos 122.15, 123.4, 124.2
notarios 133.60; (imperial notarios)
of the idikon 136.18; of the
hypourgia 136.9, 18
noumera 131.7

obol 103.7

oikonomos 99.6,104.2, 130.14,

132.9, 11, 13, 133.38
oikoumenikos didaskalos 121.9
omophorion ecclesiastic garment:

121.8, 122.3,131.44; robe/veil
of the Virgin: 131.30, 136.32
ornatourion 118.3
orphanotrophos 136.14
orthodoxy/orthodox, etc. 92.7, 93.3,
95.7, 99.1, 102.4, 12,103.1,

10, 105.1, 122.3, 128.1, 6, 8,
130.29,39, 131.2, 136.59;
cf. 118.1 (KaKoSo^oq), 124.1
(euosPeia)

pallium 54.3

papias 123.7,128.11,131.5,21, 53,

132.23, 136.15 n.
paradynasteuon 124.23, 131.5,

133.22,136.15, 29,39,42,43,
69,71

parakoimomenos 107.8, 131.19,

31, 34, 35, 39, 40, 133.50, 61,
135.12, 13,24, 25,26, 136.2, 4,
75, 77, 81,137.6

296

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

INDEX OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS

297

patriarch, patriarchate, patriarchal
throne 89.6, 7, 94.9, 95.8, 96.2,

4, 5, 97.9, 98.1, 7, 99.5, 7, 102.7,

105.7, 9, 107.5,109.1, 3, 6, 7, 15,

16.113.1.114.5, 117.2, 119.6,

121.8, 9,122.3, 7, 8,123.4, 6,
124.7, 9,14, 18, 125.1 n, 9,127.1,

128.1,3, 6,7,130.4,9,14,25,

131.2, 8, 17, 28, 30, 34, 39, 40,

44.132.5, 8, 16, 19, 21, 24,133.1,
3, 6, 7, 8, 9,10,14,25 n., 29, 34,
47,49, 50, 54, 59, 61,134.2, 9,

135.2, 11,13, 26, 28, 30, 136.3,
11, 13,29,32, 38, 40, 41,49,

55, 56, 63, 66, 81, 83,137.6; cf.
Patriarchal School 121.9 n.

patrikios 101.3, 108.7, 109.7, 113.1,

4.114.6.115.2.3.116.2.117.4,

118.3.119.1.121.5, 14, 122.3, 8,
124.7, 11, 13 n., 16, 22, 24, 125.5,

127.3, 130.11, 33,42,131.19,31,
33, 35,46,133.7,17,21,41, 46,

47.135.4, 13, 14,16, 18,19, 21,
22, 30, 136.10, 16, 19, 27, 28, 29,
39,42,43, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 77,

81.137.2.4, 6

Pentecost 130.4, 131.39, 133.36, 59,
136.12

pinkernes 137.6
plethron 60.8

polo-ground ( tzynkanisterion ) 133.27;

cf. 134.3 and 9 (on playing ball)
Pope (of Rome) 112.4,121.18,132.5,

16 n., 136.17 n.

porphyra 103.8 (dress); cf. 124.20

(Porphyra chamber of the Great
Palace)

pound see litra

praipositos 103.3, 131.39, 40, 53,

132.3

praitorion 108.5, 130.38, 131.44,
133.55

presbyteros 77.2,95.11, 119.3,121.9,
133.49,135.29,136.15; cf. elders
37.1, 43.3

prim(m)ikerios 136.2, 137.6
procession (ojtaTeuco/Opiappetico/
jtepiEpxopai/jipo6X£ixnc;/
TtpOKevao?, etc.) 104.1,9,107.2,

122.3, 10, 123.4, 9, 124.22, 24,

130.4, 32,131.31, 34, 39,132.3,
24, 26, 133.22, 36, 37, 40, 60,
136.12, 15, 52, 81

proedros 121.9
propatores see Forefathers
proskynesis 86.2
prosmonarios 131.13, 14
protasekretis 118.3, 131.28, 133.40,

41, 136.4

proteunouchos 114.4
protiktor 89.4
protokaravos 136.18
protomandator 136.20
protonotarios 135.4
protopapas 135.19

protospatharios 124.13, 130.33, 131.19,
36,133.28, 135.16,136.78, 137.6
protostrator 131.22,23, 31, 37
protosymboulos 115.2, 121.10, 125.6,
130.18, 32, 33
protothronos 133.3
protovestiarios 130.6, 15, 131.35,39,
47,132.9, 20, 23, 26,133.21,27,
40, 135.3, 136.43, 48,49,51,69,
71

quaestor 99.10,130.10,131.39 n.,
133.18; cf. quaestor's office
( koiaistorion) 124.14

rector 131.50, 134.3, 9, 135.12, 136.15,
19, 20, 29, 60

red (colour of faction in the

hippodrome (povoioi)) 131.46

sakellarios 114.4, 7, 136.18
sakellion 132.11; cf. sakelle 133.63
saximodeximon 114.5, 130.36
scholarios 124.9,130.31
selentiarios 101.3 (apo selentiariori),
102.1

selention 112.1, 121.8, 124.23, 129.2,
134.2

Senate (body of men, sometimes
building, in Rome or C/ple)
PouX.fi: 61.2, 65.2, 68, 74.1;
pouXeuxTipiov (‘Senate house’):
42.13, 49.4; osvaxov (‘Senate
building’): 132.14; auyKXr|Toc:

50.6, 51.2, 56.3, 70.2, 88.2,

97.2, 7, 99.1, 101.1, 105.7, 109.1,

2,111.1, 112.1, 126.3,127.2,

128.6,130.4, 6, 13,23, 131.6,

22.31, 133.43,134.2 n, 136.33
(guykXt|toi; PouXfj), 49, 81; cf.
PouXsoTfjpiov 50.5 (‘court of
law’), ispa aoyicXriTo^ 119.3
(‘Holy Synod’/'Sacred Senate’)

senator PooXsoir^: 50.9; ouyKXiynKo:;:

104.9, 132.26, 133.2
skaramangion 131.31, 3 9
solea 130.13, 133.36
solidus (nomisma) 87.4, 97.2, 5 n.,

98.5, 104.11, 12, 107.4, 109.5,
112.5,113.4 n., 8, 121.18, 122.3,
127.1 n., 130.31,40, 136.57 n„

spatharios 121.5

strategos 74.1, 104.11, 16, 107.1,

4, 11, 108.7, 109.2, 113.3, 6,

114.6, 119.1,7,120.2,121.5,

13, 124.12, 13, 125.5, 127.3,

130.31, 32, 33, 131.7, 13, 26,

42, 133.12,15, 21,24, 40, 62,
135.19, 136.26,27, 52, 78;
cf. monostrategos; see also
Archistratege (Index of names)

stratelates 97.5, 103.2,107.1, 7, 8, 11,
130.11, 15,31, 131.10, 26,42,

132.2, 20, 133.2, 16
synkellos 122.3,130.17,132.11, 133.1,

3, 50, 136.38; cf. 130.25 (John the
Synkellos)

tagma 107.8, 113.8 (of Mardaite
military unit), 122.16, 123.3,
124.12 n, 17, 126.3,128.10
(of the exkoubitof), 130.27,

33, 131.7 n„ 132.26 n., 133.21,
135.18, 19 (of the exkoubitoi and
the hikanatoi), 136.4, 17, 19, 23,
38, 53; cf. 136.38 n.
teichiotes 136.14
tetraodion 133.38
thema 115.3, 119.1, 122.3, 123.3, 8,

124.12,17,125.5, 130.2, 8, 21,
131.18,23, 35,132.2 n„ 20,

133.11,17,21, 30, 32, 135.18, 19,
136.10,44, 53
Theophany see Epiphany
tomos 131.39,41

topoteretes 136.17 (deputy military
commander), 66 (legate of the
Pope)

tourma 130.8

tourmarches 130.33,136.5,64
tribounalion (of the Mars Field,

Kampos tou tribounaliou)

97.10 n, 107.4, 108.2, 127.3,
136.15; cf. 121.15 (tribune
( tribounalion ) of the Hall of the
Nineteen Couches)
triklinos 114.4 ((Hall) of Justinian),
124.14 (Thomaitis Hall of
the patriarchate), 23 (Hall of
Justinian), 130.2 (the Pearl
(Margarites triklinos)), 42,

132.24 (the Pearl); cf. 131.31
( Chysotriklinos)

298

THE CHRONICLE OF THE LOGOTHETE

trimisia 136.57

trireme 121.10,135.25,136.31,48, 71,
72,75

trishagion 97.10,102.3
troparion 104.6
tzangia 131.40, 46
tzynkanisterion see polo-ground

vestiarion 132.14 (treasury or

warehouse), 136.2 (treasury)

white (colour of faction in the

hippodrome (XsuKoi)) 131.46;
cf. 130.24 (riding a white
chariot)

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